The Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has told Pratt & Whitney, IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi International), and GoAir (Mumbai International) that it will not approve deliveries of further A320-200neo aircraft without updated engines from September 2019, The Times of India has reported.
The regulator has initiated action after both low-cost carriers reported issues with their PW1127G-powered A320neo in recent weeks.
"A software update is being provided to reduce or eliminate these problems and [Pratt & Whitney said] that they will start giving the updated engines to A320/321neo which will be delivered to IndiGo and GoAir from next March. When told that was too distant a date to be acceptable, they pushed it forward to January 2020. However, DGCA chief Arun Kumar put his foot down and said such a long wait was not acceptable," a source said.
The DGCA reportedly warned IndiGo Airlines and GoAir that it will simply refuse to register any A320neo delivered to the airlines without updated engines. Responding to such pressure, the engine manufacturer reportedly agreed to accelerate the framework for installing software updates.
Pratt & Whitney did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, IndiGo Airlines currently operates eighty-seven A320neo and five A321-200neo with Pratt & Whitney engines. The carrier also operates 129 A320-200s (including twelve equipped with CFM International CFM56 engines and 117 with International Aero Engines V2500s) and eighteen ATR72-600s.
GoAir operates thirty-five PW1127G-powered A320neo and sixteen CFM56-powered A320-200s.
