35 aircraft to be grounded due to powder metal issue in P&W engines: IndiGo

Indigo

IndiGo, India's biggest carrier in terms of domestic market share and fleet, on November 7 said that based on its preliminary assessment and information received from Pratt & Whitney on the engine powder metal issue, it expects 35 aircraft to be grounded in the January-March quarter or fourth quarter of 2023-24.

The 35 aircraft on ground (AOG) expected from January will be in addition to the planes IndiGo has grounded due to supply chain issues at the moment, the airline said in a press release.

"We anticipate Aircraft on Ground (AOG) in the range of mid-thirties in the fourth quarter (Jan-Mar 2024) due to accelerated engine removals. These groundings will be incremental to the current AOGs," IndiGo said.

IndiGo currently operates 176 A320neo as part of its fleet of 334 aircraft and currently has over 40 aircraft grounded due to P&W engine issues.

Powder metal issue with P&W planes

The parent company of Pratt & Whitney, RTX Corp, had announced in September that it would be increasing the scope of recent engine inspections.

The problem, which the company first disclosed in July, stems from defects with powder metal used to make some of the popular Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engines, a flaw that can cause cracks.

RTX said that about 600 to 700 engines beyond the company’s early forecast will have to be removed for shop visits through 2026.

The Pratt & Whitney turbine engine used on new Airbus A320neo models has been manufactured with flawed components. This will ground hundreds of aircraft and affect nearly the entire fleet of GTF-powered Airbus A320neos.

The company estimated an average of 350 Airbus A320 family planes per year will be grounded from next year through 2026. The airline said it expects the issue to cost up to $7 billion.

Gaurav Negi, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of IndiGo, had on November 3 said that IndiGo will see a higher number of aircraft being grounded due to engine issues from January 2024.

"We have recently received further communication from our OEM Pratt & Whitney with respect to powder metal issues. Globally, we understand that a large number of incremental engines are being removed for shop visits between 2023 and 2026. The majority of these engine removals are being planned for 2023 and early 2024," Negi had said in the conference call.

IndiGo will have to ground its planes fitted with P&W's PW1100G geared turbofan (GTF) engines for a period of 250-300 days so that these engines can be inspected for defective high-pressure turbine and compressor discs.

Mitigating measures taken till now

So far, IndiGo has taken a number of steps to mitigate the impact of grounded planes due to the powder metal issues, the company said.

"We are in constant touch with the OEM to navigate through these challenges. Further, to deliver on our planned capacity and to cater to the robust demand, we are executing a range of mitigation measures. In this direction, we started to take action months ago," the company had said on November 3.

So far IndiGo has retained 14 older Airbus A320ceo planes as part of its fleet, extended and re-inducted another 36 aircraft, executed damp leases of 2 widebodies flying to Istanbul, and executed damp leases of 11 additional aircraft which will be starting operations from November.

IndiGo also plans to execute leases for 12 additional ceo planes from the secondary market with deliveries expected from January 2024 onwards.

Domestic manufacturing unit of P&W

Earlier this week, IndiGo's chief executive officer Pieter Elbers said that it would be a timely and sensible move for Pratt & Whitney to set up a local repair unit in India to tackle persistent engine issues more effectively.

As an operator, we would only encourage to have manufacturers close to us. It would be easier to communicate, to align, to share experiences, etc. Looking at the size of IndiGo today and looking where we will be by the end of this decade, we will be and we are on some aspects, some of the largest operators in the world and, from that sense, it makes a lot of sense to do that," Elbers said at a roundtable discussion.

Indian aviation watchdog the Director General of Civil Aviation has recently asked officials of P&W to set up a maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) unit in India given the large number of aircraft expected to join Indian airlines in the coming years.