11 A320 Neo planes of IndiGo and 3 of Goair powered by Pratt & Whitney engines have been grounded by Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in India Leaving Hundreds of passengers stranded across the country.
More than 66 flights were cancelled on Tuesday by the IndiGo and GoAir whereas today, 42 flights habe been cancelled.
The flights were cancelled after the regulator DGCA grounded the aircraft following a mid-air failure of an IndiGo plane earlier on Tuesday at Ahemdabad.
(DGCA) said that A320 Neos fitted with PW1100 engines beyond ESN 450 have been grounded with immediate effect showing concerns over safety of aircraft operations.
The airlines haven’t provided detail of cancellations and total number passengers affected by the cancellation but said that they were making possible arrangement to minimize the impacts.
According to source, a flight makes average 7-8 flights a day and after grounding of 11 aircraft, the number of cancelled flights might reach 80-90. An airline official said that as grounding was immediate effect and has tossed the operation thus the airlines are working on rescheduling flights and are working to accommodate the flight that are to be operated by grounded airlines. The official explained that the effect of one cancellation from departing airport leads to subsequent cancellations.
IndiGo which operates 8and GoAir which operates 3 out of 11 total A320 Neo aircraft with similar series of engine has been now grounded. 3 IndiGo planes were already grounded since February following similar engine problem.
IndiGo and GoAir both in Statement said that they are altering flight schedules and are accommodating affected passengers in other flights of their network.
