Volaris (Y4, México City International) says it has agreed a compensation deal with Pratt & Whitney for each of the engines that are being pulled from its fleet for inspections.
The low-cost carrier’s chief executive, Enrique Beltranena, had said in an earnings call in October that talks were underway with the manufacturer on a “negotiated compensation and support package” to ease the impact of the groundings of its A320neo Family jets caused by PW1000G engine issues.
Now, in a filing to the Mexican Stock Exchange dated December 5, Beltranena said that “we have reached an agreement with P&W that contemplates compensation for each GTF engine removed from our fleet. The agreement will help address fixed costs associated with the engines during inspections, supplementing the mitigation initiatives outlined in our recent earnings call.”
He elaborated that in response to the inspections, the Indigo Partners-backed LCC had reduced its capacity in the Mexican market in November. However, it had “redeployed” some capacity abroad in order to take advantage of the Category 1 air safety status that the United States reinstated for Mexico this autumn. He added: “This strategic approach has successfully aligned with positive demand, consistent with our full-year expectations.”
The comments were included in a filing outlining Volaris’ preliminary traffic results for November, which reported a 2.2% capacity decline year-on-year but also a 1.8% rise in load factor to 89.8%. The United States is one of five countries the carrier serves besides Mexico, the ch-aviation capacities module shows.
According to ch-aviation fleets data, of the 119 aircraft that Volaris operates, forty-five A320-200Ns, six A321-200Ns, and eighteen A321-200NX are equipped with PW1000G engines. Sixteen of the A320neo and three of the A321neoNX jets are currently inactive.
Volaris has said that the inspections could continue into 2024 and 2025 and that it does not expect to have clarity on the long-term impact the groundings will have until the first quarter of the year. One month ago, it said it had laid off 200 staff due to operational adjustments the inspections had forced on it.
