IndiGo has more than 70 aircraft grounded at the moment

IndiGo

IndiGo, India's biggest carrier in terms of domestic market share and fleet, on February 2 said that it has mid-70 aircraft grounded at the moment up from mid-40 aircraft grounded at the start of October 2023, the company's management said in its post-earnings conference call.

The mid-70 aircraft on the ground (AOG) include aircraft that are either waiting for parts due to supply-chain challenges or undergoing inspections after Pratt & Whitney recalled hundreds of PW1100G engines.

Back in November, IndiGo had said that it expects 35 aircraft to be grounded in the January-March quarter or fourth quarter of 2023-24 in addition to the planes IndiGo has grounded due to supply chain issues.

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.

Out of the above, 60 more aircraft use engines by P&W engines.

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, on February 2 said that IndiGo will add more aircraft on lease to maintain its fleet.

"We are hopeful that the situation will start to improve in a few quarters from now,” Negi said.

He added that IndiGo continues to offset the groundings using a range of mitigation measures, including holding on to older aircraft for longer and the short-term leasing of more jets.

Negi also said that IndiGo continues to receive new aircraft, with one delivery a week expected in 2024-25.

IndiGo also said that it will surpass its capacity guidance for 2023-24 and will increase its fleet by 20 percent when compared on-year by the end of 2023-24, much higher than the guidance of 12 percent it had given at the start of the current financial year.

As of December end, the airline’s fleet stood at 358 aircraft.

IndiGo has been facing slack from customers and the government recently due to delayed and cancelled flights, in the last few months. On January 30, after IndiGo canceled a Delhi-Deoghar flight owing to bad weather, a number of enraged customers rallied inside the Delhi airport and chanted anti-airline slogans.

On January 17, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) slapped a fine of Rs 1.2 crore on IndiGo for five offenses, including the incident in which passengers of its delayed flight were seen eating on the tarmac.

Notably, the Ministry of Civil Aviation had issued show-cause notices to IndiGo Airlines and the Mumbai airport, demanding answers after a viral video depicted stranded passengers nonchalantly eating on the tarmac after their Delhi-bound flight was delayed by 12 hours. This delay was a result of severe flight disruptions at Delhi airport caused by dense fog.

As of Jan 17, IndiGo's OTP remained at 43.7 percent, lowest among its peers, according to data from ministry of civil aviation. "

"Flight cancellation and delays on January 14 have caused a cascading effect on our OTP over the last week," IndiGo's Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers had said on January 18.

He added that the airline needs to expand its digital network to make sure its frontline staff is aware of the correct information to pass on to customers.

Elbers had also vowed that the airline will improve its on-time performance (OTP) by next week returning to earlier standards, after the country's biggest carrier clocked its worst OTP earlier this week as dense fog restricted visibility, delaying flights.

"We will review our operation along with the industry to avoid operational disruptions going forward. We have updated our navigation system two days ago," he added.