New Delhi: The issue of engines from the aircraft that were grounded due to some issues have started working again. The engines were of the Pratt & Whitney Company for the A320neo aircraft. As per the government statement on Thursday, 11 out of 14 such engines were grounded due to the technical snag and with everything right as of now, they are flying again after change of engines.
Due to the woes faced by the P&W engine, there was a grounding of about 11 A320neos operated by IndiGo and three other flown by GoAir.
“As of now, 11 of the 14 grounded aircraft have started flying after changing the engines,” Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
After the grounding of the aircraft, 776 IndiGo flights were cancelled from March 13 till April 2. During the same period, GoAir had also cancelled a total 336 flights, the minister said.
On March 12 this year, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had directed in an order to ground 11 A320neo planes fitted with faulty P&W 1100 engines with the serial number of 450 and beyond.
Out of the 11 planes grounded, IndiGo and GoAir operated eight and three, respectively.
In similar instance in February, IndiGo had to ground three of its aircraft, both of them having faulty engines. This was followed by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issuing an emergency airworthiness directive on February 9 after a few occurrences of aborted take-off and in-flight shut down on A320neo fleet worldwide.
However, more 11 were allowed to operate as they were fitted with one affected engine.
But after that, with the three cases of in-flight shutdown, 11 other A320neo aircraft with severe engine glitches were also grounded from March 12 by keeping in mind the safety of aircraft operations, Sinha said.
He also told that any new type of aircraft which is about to be imported needs to get ‘letter of type acceptance’ which certifies that the plane meets the type design requirements
“A320neo aircraft were issued with type acceptance by the DGCA based on the type certificate issued by the EASA. These aircraft, installed with the PW 1100G-JM engines, were also issued with the type acceptance by the DGCA based on the type certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)”, the minister said.
Over the inconvenience being caused by passengers because of the grounding of the aircraft, Mr Sinha said, many flight schedules were altered to minimize the effect of the aircraft grounding. Apart from that, he said, the option of free cancellations and re-bookings are being made available.
Between the period of March 13 and April 2, 776 out of 21,000 scheduled flights of IndiGo were cancelled while 336 out of 5,396 scheduled flights of GoAir remained out of service.
Between March 13 and April 2, 776 out of 21,000 scheduled flights of IndiGo were cancelled while 336 out of 5,396 scheduled flights of GoAir remained out of service.
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