IndiGo Fleet Hit by Groundings: Over 70 Planes Affected

5 Feb 2024 , 10:27 AM

In its post-earnings conference call, IndiGo’s management said on February 2 that the airline, which is the largest in India in terms of both fleet and domestic market share, currently has about 70 grounded aircraft, up from about 40 at the beginning of October 2023.

The mid-70 aircraft on the ground (AOG) consists of aircraft that are awaiting inspections following Pratt & Whitney’s recall of hundreds of PW1100G engines, or that are waiting for parts as a result of supply-chain issues.

IndiGo stated back in November that in addition to the aircraft it has grounded owing to supply chain problems, it anticipates grounding 35 more aircraft in the first, second, and third quarters of 2023–2024.

Currently, IndiGo has 334 aircraft in its fleet, of which 176 are A320neos. Of those, over 40 are grounded because of P&W engine problems.

Of the aforementioned, sixty additional aircraft are powered by P&W engines.

Pratt & Whitney’s parent company, RTX Corp., had declared in September that it will expand the recent engine inspection program.

The business originally revealed the issue in July. It is caused by flaws in the powder metal that is used to produce some of the well-known Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engines, which can lead to cracks.

According to RTX, through 2026, an additional 600–700 engines over the company’s initial estimate will need to be taken out of service for repair visits.

The new Airbus A320neo models’ Pratt & Whitney turbine engine was produced with defective parts. This will impact almost the whole fleet of Airbus A320neos powered by GTF and force hundreds of aircraft to ground.

According to the company, between next year and 2026, an average of 350 Airbus A320 family aircraft will be grounded annually. According to the airline, the problem might end up costing up to $7 billion.

On February 2, IndiGo’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Gaurav Negi, said that the airline would be leasing additional aircraft in order to sustain its fleet.

Negi stated, ‘We are optimistic that things will start to get better in a few quarters.’

He continued by saying that IndiGo is still employing a number of mitigating strategies to make up for the groundings, such as leasing extra short-term jets and extending the use of older aircraft.

Negi added that IndiGo is still receiving new planes, with one delivery per week anticipated in 2024–2025.

Additionally, IndiGo stated that it will increase its fleet by 20% year-over-year by the end of 2023–24, significantly exceeding the 12% projection it had provided at the beginning of the current fiscal year. It will also surpass its capacity guidance for 2023–24.

There were 358 aircraft in the airline’s fleet as of the end of December.

Due to delayed and cancelled flights over the past few months, IndiGo has recently encountered resentment from the government and customers. On January 30, a large gathering of furious passengers assembled inside the Delhi airport and screamed anti-airline chants after IndiGo cancelled the Delhi-Deoghar flight due to severe weather.

The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) fined IndiGo ₹ 1.2 crore on January 17 for five infractions, including a flight delay event when passengers were observed eating on the tarmac.

Of particular note, the Ministry of Civil Aviation had served show-cause warnings to IndiGo Airlines and the Mumbai airport, requesting responses following the viral video that showed stranded travellers casually munching the tarmac after their aircraft to Delhi was delayed by twelve hours. The Delhi airport had significant flight disruptions, which led to this delay.

As of January 17, the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s statistics indicates that IndiGo’s OTP stood at 43.7 %, the lowest among its competitors.

On January 18, Pieter Elbers, the CEO of IndiGo, stated, ‘Flight cancellation and delays on January 14 have caused a cascading effect on our OTP over the last week.’

In order to ensure that frontline employees have access to accurate information to share with consumers, he continued, the airline must broaden its digital network.

Elbers also pledged that the airline would raise its on-time performance (OTP) by the following week, going back to prior levels. Earlier this week, the nation’s largest carrier recorded its lowest OTP due to intense fog obstructing visibility and causing aircraft delays.

‘In order to prevent operational disruptions in the future, we and the industry will assess our operation. Two days ago, we changed our navigation system,’ he continued.

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