The Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has given IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi International) four more months to replace the Pratt & Whitney engines on its A320neo fleet, the authority said in a statement on January 13.
After four inflight engine shutdowns occurred in a single week, the DGCA, in November, gave the carrier until January 31 to replace the affected powerplants. It has now extended the deadline to May 31, which is ahead of a plan by IndiGo, Pratt & Whitney and Airbus to complete the process by the end of June.
That, in turn, is ahead of a December 31, 2020, deadline set by the US Federal Aviation Administration for airlines to replace engines linked to the shutdowns.
“The airline and the aircraft and the engine manufacturer have made significant efforts towards completion of the task,” the DGCA statement assured, adding that IndiGo and Pratt & Whitney had submitted a detailed plan on obtaining 135 replacement engines that were still required.
The deadline continues to be tight, the statement insisted, in order to “spur frenetic action on the part of all stakeholders”.
The authority told Pratt & Whitney, IndiGo, and GoAir (Mumbai International) last August that it would not approve deliveries of further PW1127G-powered A320-200neo aircraft without updated engines, following a number of reported issues with the engines.
IndiGo is the biggest customer of the A320neo family with 624 A320neo and A321neo aircraft still on order the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows. It has already replaced at least one Pratt & Whitney engine on each affected aircraft with a modified one.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, IndiGo Airlines currently operates ninety-six A320neo and ten A321-200neo with Pratt & Whitney engines. It also operates 126 A320-200s, and twenty-five ATR72-600s.
