Twitter
Advertisement

Delhi HC refuses to ground entire fleet of IndiGo's A320neo

The Delhi High Court today refused to ground the entire fleet of IndiGo's A320neo aircraft, which allegedly have defective engines.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

The Delhi High Court today refused to ground the entire fleet of IndiGo's A320neo aircraft, which allegedly have defective engines.

Advocate Yeshwanth Shenoy's said in his plea that IndiGo's A320neo fleet should be grounded until the manufacturers give in writing that the existing defects have been rectified and the DGCA is satisfied.

"Your (petitioner) first prayer seeking direction to Directorate General of Civil Aviation to ground the entire fleet of Airbus A320neo cannot be granted," a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said.

It, however, said Shenoy's plea seeking various other directions to the authorities, including an order to ensure that all accidents are published on DGCA's website within 24 hours of its occurrence, shall be heard on March 20.

Aviation watchdog DGCA had on March 12 ordered IndiGo and GoAir to immediately ground 11 A320neo planes powered with a certain series of Pratt & Whitney engines after three incidents of mid-air engine failures in less than a month.

Concerns over the safety of such planes increased with another engine failure, forcing an emergency landing of an IndiGo flight at Ahmedabad airport on March 12, and the regulator cracked the whip saying that there is no concrete proposal in place at this stage to address the issue.

A total of 14 A320 neo aircraft fitted with a specific series of engines -- 11 are operated by IndiGo and three by GoAir -- have now been grounded. Three IndiGo planes are already on the ground following the problem. 

Meanwhile, adding more trouble to IndiGo's carrier, a brand new Pratt & Whitney engine-powered ATR aircraft of IndiGo's maiden flight from Toulouse to New Delhi was aborted and had to return to the French facility due to low oil pressure.
The IndiGo ATR 72-600 aircraft on its maiden flight yesterday from its Toulouse headquarters to the New Delhi hub of IndiGo had no revenue passengers onboard.

Confirming the development, the airline in a statement said, "IndiGo ATR 72-600 while being ferried from Toulouse to India, with no revenue passengers onboard, returned to Toulouse for technical reasons. The aircraft will conduct checks and take actions as required as is the usual practise while delivering new airplanes."

Though the airline did not specify what the technical glitch was, sources said this problem was low oil pressure.
Currently Indigo has four ATRs in the fleet beside the 152 Airbus A320 planes, including 32 A320 Neos.
Early last year, the airline had signed a term sheet for buying 50 of these 70-seater planes. It plans to take 21 of them by this December.

IndiGo ATR aircraft are fitted with Pratt& Whitney engines (PW127M). The carrier took the delivery of its first ATR last November.

The airline is already facing many a headwind with its P&W engines on its Neo planes, of which 11 were grounded by the regulator earlier this week. 

(With inputs from PTI)

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement