P&W engines' material anomalies issue to have minimal impact on IndiGo fleet: DGCA

Aviation regulator DGCA on Thursday said material anomalies detected in certain Pratt & Whitney engines will have a "minimal" impact on IndiGo fleet as only two operational engines of the airline will be required to be removed for inspection.

While a total of 15 engines powering IndiGo planes will be impacted, 13 of them are currently non-operational, according to a senior official at the Directorate General of of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

IndiGo is the largest customer of the A320 planes and the aircraft are powered by P&W engines. 

Grounded carrier Go First's A320 neo fleet are also having P&W engines.

Last month, US-based P&W said it has found that a rare condition in powdered metal used to manufacture certain engine parts may reduce the life of those parts.

P&W had said the material anomalies would impact around 1,002 PW1100G engines worldwide.

The engine maker has now issued the Service Instructions (SI) enlisting the serial numbers of the engine series which are required to be removed for performing Angle Ultrasonic Scan Inspection (AUSI) during the shop visit and accordingly are required to be removed before September 15, the official said.

"The impact of this Service Instruction on the fleet of IndiGo, as ascertained from them, is minimal and only 2 engines which are currently operational in their fleet would be required to be removed out of a total of 13 affected engines (of which 11 are currently non-operational).

"This implies that there would be little or no impact on the capacity of Indian carriers during the ensuing high season," the official said.

During IndiGo's quarterly earnings call on August 2, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers had said "single digit" number of P&W engines will be impacted in the first phase.

"This is a new issue that has been highlighted by the OEM. Here we have to rely on the communication which was shared by P&W about certain probable manufacturing anomalies which are actually leading to additional inspection.
"... We don't know yet what is going to be the precise impact in the first phase... But of course we are in clear contact and clear coordination with P&W to see what is going to be the precise impact," he had said.

Elbers had also said there are still a lot of questions on the precise duration and phasing of the inspection of engines.

P&W is already grappling with supply chain issues and some of the aircraft of IndiGo are already grounded due to engine issues.

IndiGo and Go First have been facing issues with their P&W engines, which had also resulted in aviation regulator grounding some of the aircraft in the past.

Cash-strapped Go First, which stopped flying on May 3, had blamed P&W engine problems as the main reason for seeking voluntary insolvency resolution process. 

The dispute between the grounded carrier and the engine maker is going on.