85 Flights Grounded Daily a Rumour Spread by Competitors: IndiGo

Pratt & Whitney engines require wear out faster than other engines and the company is working to resolve that.

File photo of an IndiGo aircraft. 

(Photo: Reuters)

On Sunday, IndiGo clarified that the news of 85 flights being cancelled daily was a rumour spread by competitors, not to be believed.

The budget carrier clarified that the Pratt & Whitney engines wore out faster than other engines and the company was looking for a fix for their engines. IndiGo clarified that flights are pre-scheduled taking the issue in consideration and they have been able to avoid flight cancellations and unnecessary grounding of planes and standing passengers.

InterGlobe Aviation-run budget carrier IndiGo on Friday cancelled over 80 flights as the airline grounded more Airbus A320 Neo (new engine option) planes due to engine issues.

As many as 13 A320 Neo aircrafts are on ground due to the Pratt & Whitney-supplied engine issues, forcing the airline to cancel 84 flights today.

The frequent grounding of the A320 planes is taking place due to multiple issues, including engine failure, the sources said.

According to the sources, a total of 667 flights were cancelled by IndiGo between 21 June and 3 July this year, with 61 flights cancelled on 27 June alone, due to the grounding of these planes.

IndiGo president and full-time director Aditya Ghosh had during the post-Q1 earnings call on 31 July said:

Regrettably, there have been days when we have had to ground as many as nine A320 Neo (planes) due to lack of spare engines. While we do receive certain compensation from Pratt & Whitney for these groundings, the operational disruptions are quite challenging and we are not happy with that situation.

The sources also said that of the 667 flights cancelled by IndiGo in 13 days, a total of 504 flights were cancelled between 21 June and 30 June, while the remaining 163 were cancelled on the first three days of July.

A response to the queries sent to IndiGo on the issue was awaited.

A text message sent to the Director General of Civil Aviation, BS Bhullar, seeking response to a query whether the DGCA was considering grounding of the entire Airbus A320 Neo fleet with Pratt & Whitney engines did not yield any response.

(With inputs from PTI)

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