A320 Neo Pratt engine issues likely to have an impact on future capacity: IndiGo

NEW DELHI: Pratt & Whitney (PW) engine issues and the regulatory requirement to have only modified — and hopefully less snag-rone — PW engines on all its Airbus A320/21 Neos by January 31, 2020, is “likely to have an impact on future capacity.” India’s largest airline, which reported a Rs 1,000 crore plus loss in July-September 2019 quarter, said Neo engine issues and other factors were “revenue headwinds” that led to lower utilisation of aircraft while expecting these things to be sorted out by next summer.
Regarding the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directive to have only modified PW engines on all its Neos by January-end, the presentation says, the airline is “in talks with manufacturer (PW) for additional modified engines.” And on the “ground a Neo with unmodified PW engine for each new or leased Neo with modified engines” order, it says: “We are working with manufacturers PW and Airbus to get sufficient spare engines to mitigate the risk,” while admitting the issue is “likely to have an impact on future capacity. Expect a year-on-year capacity increase of 15%-20% in Q4 FY20 and 22-23% in FY20.”