Civil Aviation Regulator DGCA Directs Indigo To Replace Old Pratt & Whitney Engines On 97 Aircraft By January 2020 End

Civil aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked IndiGo to replace older Pratt & Whitney engines in all its 97 Airbus 320 (neo) aircraft by the end of January 2020.

The development came after recent back-to-back incidents on IndiGo’s Airbus 320 (neos), operated by Pratt & Whitney engines.

DGCA’s Director General (DG) stated that four such incidents where these older engines shut down during flight were witnessed recently, which has raised serious safety concerns.

Therefore, the DGCA DG stated that older engines on 97 IndiGo aircraft have to be replaced with modified Low Pressure Turbines (LPT) by January 2020.

The DGCA DG clarified that in case these replacements were not carried out, such aircraft would not be allowed to fly with unmodified engines.

However, this DGCA order is presently applicable only to IndiGo and not to GoAir, which also flies aircraft with similar engines.

Incidentally, this order which applies to IndiGo happens to be a follow-up of an earlier DGCA order, which had asked both IndiGo and GoAir which operate Airbus 320 (neo) with Pratt & Whitney engines, to change these engines in 16 and 13 of their aircraft, respectively by November 12, 2019.