Thursday, April 05, 2018

11 out of 14 grounded A320neos are back in operation: Govt

New Delhi: The government today said 11 of the 14 A320neo aircraft that were grounded due to Pratt & Whitney engine issues have started flying again after change of engines.

P&W engine woes had forced grounding of 11 A320neos operated by IndiGo and three flown by GoAir.

"As of now, 11 of the 14 grounded aircraft have started flying after changing the engines," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

Following the grounding of the aircraft, 776 IndiGo flights were cancelled from March 13 till April 2. During the same period, GoAir had cancelled 336 flights, the minister said.

On March 12, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had ordered grounding of 11 A320neo planes fitted with faulty P&W 1100 engines having serial number of 450 and beyond.

Out of the 11 planes, IndiGo and GoAir were operated eight and three, respectively.

In February, three IndiGo aircraft, with both faulty engines, were grounded. This followed the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issuing an emergency airworthiness directive on February 9 after a few occurrences of aborted take-off and in-flight shut down on A320neo fleet worldwide.

However, 11 others were allowed to operate as they were fitted with one affected engine.

But subsequently with three cases of in-flight shutdown, 11 other A320neo aircraft with engine glitches were grounded from March 12 keeping in mind the safety of aircraft operations, Sinha said.
05/04/18 PTI/Times of India
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