According to P&W officials, more than 95% of the fleet in India have completed the retrofit
With aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) turning up the heat over safety of A320neo engines, the manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (P&W) has claimed it will upgrade all the aircraft in India by by around June this year.
According to P&W officials, more than 95% of the fleet in India have completed the retrofit. "We expect 100% completion in the first part of 2019" said a spokesperson, adding that hardware and software upgrades are providing significant improvements in engine reliability and time on wing.
The response from P&W comes even as DGCA is likely to issue an additional advisory soon for Airbus planes fitted with Pratt & Whitney engines. During a three-hour meeting on Tuesday, the Union civil aviation ministry reviewed the frequent on-ground and mid-air glitches that P&W engines powering these planes have been facing since their induction in early 2016. "In order to deal with issues related to P&W engines, the DGCA will issue an additional advisory in the next one week," a source said. While the engine maker maintains that there are no safety concerns with its engines, DGCA's upcoming safety directives are likely to roll out a set of stringent parameters to further strengthen the safety and reliability of A320neo engines in India. The regulator has asked the carriers to take baroscopic inspection of the aircraft at every 500 flying hours as against the stipulated 1,500 hours.
The DGCA had issued an advisory in November last year to deal with this issue. The recurring glitches on Pratt & Whitney-powered Airbus planes have forced the Wadia group-run budget carrier GoAir to ground as many as seven A320 Neos. GoAir has 49 planes in the fleet and 30 of them are Airbus A320 Neos. P&W engine woes had forced both GoAir and the larger rival IndiGo (which operates 57 of such planes) to ground some of the A320neos on earlier occasions also. During February and March last year, 14 planes – 11 of IndiGo and three of GoAir – were grounded by the aviation regulator DGCA following a series of mid-air engine shutdowns. Apart from these two carriers, Air India and Vistara also operate A320neos, but they are powered by CFM engines.
The decision was taken after P&W engineers were able to convince the government that the mid-air shutdown of engines happened in rare instances due to glitches.
The sources said that during the Tuesday meeting, while studying the root cause, Pratt & Whitney was able to convince the ministry officials that the in-flight snags with A320neo happened only in 0.001% cases, which is lower than the global benchmark. The airlines receive compensation for the engine snags.
FOR A SAFE FLIGHT
- 0.001% – cases reported in-flight snags with A320neo engines, P&W said
- 95% – of A320neo fleet has completed retrofit
(With PTI inputs)
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