Even as airlines world over ground much of their Boeing B777 fleet after the engine failure of an United Airlines aircraft, Air India has escaped the trouble.
And that is because the national airline uses a different engine make in its 777 aircraft.
"Air India has 16 B777 aircraft. But the airline does not operate B777 with Pratt & Whitney engines," a senior government official told Moneycontrol.
The aircraft involved in the United incident had an engine supplied by Pratt & Whitney, a major manufacturer.
"Air India has three B777-200LR aircraft with GE 90-110 series engines and 13 B777-300 ER aircraft with GE 90-115 series engines," the official quoted above, added.
GE is the American conglomerate General Electric.
"Therefore as of now there should be no need to take any step on these aircraft types," the official said, but added that the Air India could be "more vigilant during ground checks as a precautionary measure."
Boeing has called for the grounding of 128 of its 777 planes across the world, even as US regulators investigate the incident in which the engine caught fire and fell apart over Denver. The pilots managed to bring back the aircraft safely to the Denver airport.
Apart from United, Korean Air, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways have also grounded some of their 777 planes that are fit with P&W engines.
This is not the first time that engines from P&W are coming under the scanner. In August 2020, IndiGo had to replace P&W engines in its A320neo fleet, after several incidents. GoAir, which also has the A320neo with P&W engines, also went through the drill.
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