IndiGo expects grounding of another 30-plus aircraft during Jan-March 2024

IndiGo, the country's largest domestic aviation player, on Tuesday said it expects the grounding of another 30-plus aircraft during Jan-March 2024 due to issues with the Pratt & Whitney GTF engine used in Airbus A320 family aircraft. This will be in addition to the current grounding of around 45 planes.

In a statement, IndiGo provided an update on the preliminary assessment of the impact of the powder metal issue with its Pratt & Whitney-powered fleet. The airline said that the American aerospace manufacturer had highlighted the impact of the powder metal issue that had affected its new generation GTF aircraft engine.

Globally, the statement said, a large number of incremental engines ranging between 600-700 are being removed for accelerated inspections and shop visits between 2023 and 2026 and two-thirds of these engine removals are planned for 2023 and early 2024.

IndiGo said that it recently received additional information on the engine issue from Pratt & Whitney. "Based on our preliminary assessment of this, we anticipate Aircraft on Ground (AOG) in the range of mid-thirties in the fourth quarter (Jan-Mar 2024) due to accelerated engine removals. These groundings will be incremental to the current AOGs," the budget airline said.

The airline further said that during its recent Q2 earnings call, it had already indicated a likely increase in the number of engine removals in Q4 (Jan-Mar24) leading to a higher number of groundings in light of this powder metal issue.

"Based on this recent information as received, we can reconfirm our given capacity guidance for Q3 (Oct-Dec23). In addition, we also confirm our earlier capacity guidance for the entire FY23-24 "in the North of mid-teens" significantly aided by proactive mitigation measures taken earlier by IndiGo."

IndiGo's parent company, InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, posted a net profit of Rs 189 crore in Q2FY24 as against a net loss of Rs 1,583.33 crore in the July-September period last fiscal. IndiGo had reported a net profit of Rs 3,090 crore in Q1FY\24. The airline's revenue from operations surged almost 20 per cent to Rs 14,943 crore, from Rs 12,497 crore in the year-ago period.

Also read: IndiGo Q2 results: Airline posts Rs 189-crore profit, revenue rises 20%