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India’s DGCA grounds P&W-powered A320neo
March 16th 2018
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered the immediate grounding of eleven Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-powered A320neo aircraft amid a recent flurry of durability issues that resulted in aborted take-offs and in-flight shutdowns. Read More »
Affected by this latest round of groundings are eight A320neo in service with IndiGo Airlines and three operated by GoAir.
According to the DGCA, only A320neo with serial numbers 450 and above are being grounded this time.
Last month, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD), warning of in-flight shutdowns and rejected take-off events for P&W-powered A320neo series aircraft.
EASA has since informed the DGCA that it was evaluating “some interim proposals” and that it would be revising the EAD “in due course as soon as current affected engines will be modified with a safer interim design”.
The Indian aviation watchdog this week confirmed that it expects all affected engines to be replaced “by early June”, although there was “no concrete proposal in place at this stage to address the issue”.
In the interim, P&W reiterated it had found a permanent solution to the issues and that deliveries of P&W-powered A320neo would resume in early April. The OEM said new performance data for the PW1100G was showing the snags had been fully addressed and fixed.
The P&W GTF saga never seems to end. Slowed and cancelled deliveries of P&W-powered A320 have started taking their toll on Airbus. In February, the Toulouse-based manufacturer handed over just two P&W-powered A320neo series jets, an A320neo to Air China and an A321neo to China Southern Airlines.
Conversely, Airbus delivered eight LEAP-1A-powered A320neo jets during that month, comprising deliveries to AirAsia, Air India, Vistara, SAS, Azul and Pegasus.
The CFM International LEAP-1A is the alternative engine choice for the A320neo programme.
During the first two months, Airbus delivered a total of 50 A320neo series aircraft, down from 60 a year earlier.
