The ripple of frustration among these narrow body operators is visible now , and Pratt & Whitney needs some magic to come out of such a situation of drag, when carriers are desperate to match upto the market demand.
Earlier Spirit Airlines was vocal about the issue, now , IndiGo airlines has disclosed that the carrier was anticipating the grounding of a minimum of 35 aircraft during the upcoming January-March quarter of 2024, owing to persistent issues with Pratt & Whitney engines.
Apart from the forecast, forty A320 family aircraft have already been grounded for other engine-related issues. With a fleet of 334 aircraft at the end of September, the Indian low cost carrier is expected to go through capacity constraints in the March quarter, despite ongoing efforts to address the situation.
Another carrier, European Wizz Air, which has fleet of aircraft powered by Pratt’s GTF engines, has already said in a statement that the problem will force it to reduce capacity by 10% in the second half of fiscal 2024.
The engine issues stem primarily from a "powder metal" problem, affecting the engines and exacerbating an existing challenge for the airline.
IndiGo statement on the issue :
"We have recently received additional information on the powder metal issue from Pratt & Whitney and based on our preliminary assessment of this, we anticipate Aircraft on Ground (AOG) in the range of mid-thirties in the fourth quarter (Jan-Mar2024) due to accelerated engine removals."
"These groundings will be incremental to the current AOGs."
As of now, IndiGo already has nearly 40 of its aircraft grounded due to various other Pratt & Whitney engine-related issues. The forecast for the latest powder metal issue is, it will take up to 300 days from when the engines are removed from wings until they go back to airlines.
"Globally, we understand that a large number of incremental engines ranging between 600-700 are being removed for accelerated inspections and shop visits between 2023 and 2026 and two-thirds of these engine removals are planned for 2023 and early 2024," IndiGo added further.
The combined impact of these grounded planes is expected to create significant capacity challenges, casting a shadow on the airline's operations during the crucial March quarter.
IndiGo recently received updated information from Pratt & Whitney regarding the powder metal issue. The problem, which the company first disclosed in July, stems from defects with powder metal used to make some of the popular Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engines, a flaw that can cause cracks.
Based on their preliminary assessment, the airline foresees a considerable number of Aircraft-on-ground (AOG) situations in the range of mid-thirties during the fourth quarter of 2024 (Jan-Mar 2024).
These groundings are a direct consequence of accelerated engine removals, and they will add to the existing number of grounded aircraft.
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"The root cause of these challenges lies in the powder metal issue, which Pratt & Whitney had already brought to light earlier this year. This problem has particularly affected the new generation GTF (Geared Turbofan) aircraft engines," Indigo said.
During a media engagement , while announcing the September quarter results on November 3, IndiGo's CEO, Pieter Elbers, highlighted the various measures the airline has taken to fulfil its capacity guidance for the fiscal year.
RTX expects the issue to cost up to $7 billion. Pratt & Whitney has a 51% share in the GTF PW1000 engine program and the cost will be shared with its partners including Germany’s MTU.
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