India’s largest airline IndiGo is yet to receive clarity from engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (P&W) about the schedule, duration, and impact of impending engine inspections that are bound to lead to the grounding of a number of airplanes in the carrier’s A320neo fleet.
While it awaits clarity from P&W, IndiGo has initiated mitigating measures — mainly extending leases on planes and adding new aircraft on lease — to tide over any disruption, the airline’s chief executive officer Pieter Elbers said.
“Due to the powder metal issue, more inspections have to take place. That’s public info… What is, however, not clear yet is what’s going to be the precise timing…what’s going to be the precise duration or what’s going to be the precise impact. That all has to come clear in the months ahead… So, what we are doing, in fact, is creating a set of measures to deal with it,” Elbers told reporters, adding that the airline is in constant touch with P&W to get more details in order to fine tune its mitigation strategy.
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In July, P&W said that a powder metal defect could lead to cracking of some engine components in its geared turbofan engines for the A320neo aircraft, and called for accelerated inspections globally. These inspections could lead to grounding of scores of planes globally. According to IndiGo’s own estimates, accelerated engine inspections and shop visits could adversely impact the airline’s operating fleet from the January-March quarter. Elbers, however, declined to comment on the number of planes that the airline expects to be affected.
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This latest issue is in addition to earlier problems with the P&W engines, due to which over 40 IndiGo aircraft are already grounded. As of September 30, IndiGo’s total fleet size stood at 334 planes, including 176 A320neo jets.
As part of the mitigating measures being put in place by IndiGo, the airline has retained 14 older Airbus A320ceo planes, extended leases on another 36 aircraft, and is in the process of taking 11 more planes on lease starting this month. It is also taking another 12 aircraft on lease from the secondary market, with deliveries expected from January. Elbers said that the airline is preparing more mitigation measures and will continue to explore more aircraft leasing opportunities.
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According to Elbers, the airline is confident that the mitigating measures being taken will enable it to meet its capacity growth guidance of “north of mid-teens” for 2023-24 (FY24). The airline is also confident of meeting its long-term capacity guidance of doubling its fleet by 2030. IndiGo has close to a thousand aircraft of the Airbus A320 family on order, which are scheduled to be delivered till the middle of the next decade.
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