About 50 flights were cancelled by Indigo and GoAir on Wednesday, 14 March, the third day after the DGCA had grounded a third of its A320 Neo aircraft fleet, as part of a safety drive, reports PTI.
While Indigo has reportedly cancelled about 42 of its flights hailing to and fro from cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Jaipur and others, GoAir fared marginally better, cancelling a total of six flights as compared to the eighteen it cancelled on Tuesday, 13 March, the report adds.
As many as 65 flights were cancelled by the two budget carriers on Tuesday, 13 March, after the country’s aviation regulator DGCA grounded 11 of their A320 neo planes with faulty Pratt & Whitney engines, causing severe inconvenience to hundreds of flyers.
On 13 March, the DGCA said that 14 Airbus 320 Neo aircrafts have been grounded out of 45. “The rest are fully operational as there is no safety issue with them”, the DGCA added.
The Gurugram-based IndiGo cancelled 47 of its 1,000-odd flights per day, while the Wadia Group-promoted GoAir said it had cancelled 18 flights, reported PTI.
In a statement to the media issued later, IndiGo said the affected passengers have been given the option of either choosing another flight at no additional cost, or cancelling their booking and getting a full refund without any cancellation charges.
Aviation regulator DGCA on Monday, 12 March, grounded 11 A320 neo aircraft, powered by a certain series of Pratt & Whitney engines, following instances of engine failures during flights.
Of these, eight are operated by IndiGo, and three by GoAir.
Citing safety of aircraft operations, the DGCA said A320 neos fitted with PW1100 engines beyond ESN 450 have been grounded with immediate effect.
IndiGo carries about 40 percent of domestic flyers, while GoAir has a market share of around 10 percent, PTI further reported.
The regulator would be in touch with the stakeholders and review the situation in due course when the issue is addressed by European regulator EASA and P&W, it added.
On 9 February, EASA had issued an emergency airworthiness directive for A320 neo planes fitted with PW1100 engines having a particular serial number.
The directive followed instances of engine shutdown during flights and rejected take-offs involving the A320 neo family aircraft.
On 13 February, DGCA had said that it was monitoring engine glitches to ensure that safety is not compromised at any time.
On 21 February, P&W said it has come out with a revised configuration to address the latest problem in some of its engines powering A320 neo planes.
According to BloombergQuint, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation also mentioned in the press release that other than the A32neo flight that made an emergency landing at Ahmedabad, two other separate in-flight shutdowns for the same model of the aircraft were reported earlier this year, which prompted their decision.
These were:
(With inputs from PTI)
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