Putting an end to speculation that the Indian civil aviation sector could be affected due to issues faced by engine maker Pratt & Whitney (P&W), the Indian aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday said that the impact on IndiGo, the largest Indian passenger airline, will be ‘minimal’.
The announcement is likely to bring relief to the airline and travellers who were expected to face the brunt.
This comes after the engine maker recently announced that there were “material anomalies” on the PW1100G engines globally, affecting approximately 200 engines.
P&W issued the Service Instructions (SI) enlisting the serial numbers of the engine series which are required to be removed for performing the ‘Angle Ultrasonic Scan Inspection’ (AUSI) during the shop visit and are accordingly required to be removed before September 15, 2023.
“The impact of this Service Instruction on the fleet of Indigo, as ascertained from them, is minimal and only two 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),” a senior DGCA official said.
“This implies that there would be little or no impact on the capacity of Indian carriers during the ensuing high season,” the official added.
{{/usCountry}}“This implies that there would be little or no impact on the capacity of Indian carriers during the ensuing high season,” the official added.
{{/usCountry}}P&W had last month revealed that hundreds of its PW1100G engines will need to be returned and checked for microscopic cracks due to a “rare condition” in the powdered metal used to produce some of the engines’ high-pressure turbine disks.
As per reports, 1,200 of its engines will need to be returned globally and inspected over the course of the next year : 200 by the end of this summer, followed by a further 1,000 before September 2024.
The PW1100G engine, also known as the GTF (geared turbofan) engine, is commonly used to power the A320neo and A321neo. The popular narrowbody aircraft are used globally and IndiGo was believed to be one among the airlines to be most affected.