NEW DELHI: The aircraft capacity crunch may worsen and lead to even higher airfares ahead of the festive season. The reason: Yet another trouble with Pratt & Whitney’s (P&W’s) snag-ridden geared turbofan (GTF) engines that power the Airbus 321neo and have almost 50 IndiGo planes grounded apart from the once 60-aircraft strong GoFirst.
DGCA last Friday held a video conference with its American counterpart, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and P&W on the latest in a series of GTF’s unending snags. Sources said P&W told the Indian regulator it will issue technical guidance on the latest trouble in early August. The issue relates to microscopic contaminants being found in a metal used in parts of the engine’s core.
