Indigo engine snag possibly first of its kind: DGCA

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 19 

The recent incident of smoke engulfing the cabin of Indigo Airbus A320 Neo forcing it to make an emergency landing in Kolkata was possibly the “first of its kind incident anywhere”, the Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Wednesday. 

On December 10, the Pratt & Whitney (PW) engines powering the plane developed a snag with 136 passengers onboard the Delhi-Jaipur flight, 70 kilometres from the destination.

The pilots made an emergency landing in Kolkata and passengers were safely evacuated.

Oil leak in the engine was suspected to have led to smoke filling up the cabin.

“We have been informed that PW engines of A320 Neo that have done less than 800 hours of operation are getting an upgrade where the combustion chamber’s temperature will be reduced by 40 degree Celsius.

“This may have been the first of its kind case globally involving a (PW-powered) Neo,” said BS Bhullar, DG of the DGCA, said on Wednesday.

The PW engines have faced constant technical snags over the past two years.

Indigo and Go Air have 90 A320 Neo aircrafts in use powered by the PW engines.

“We are very closely monitoring PW engines on the Neos,” added Bhullar.  

Earlier today, addressing the press, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu and his junior colleague Jayant Sinha underlined that “safety remains uppermost priority for the aviation industry”.

The ministers were highlighting that the recent International Aviation Safety Assessment of the DGCA by the Federal Aviation Administration has maintained a Category 1 ranking for India that meets relevant global requirement standards.

Meanwhile, the DGCA also informed that for the past four months, traffic is being monitored at the “capacity constrained” airports in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai.

For optimisation of capacity, a proposal is under discussion to rationalise block timings (engine on and engine off) to instil discipline among airlines.

The on time performance (OTP), which as of now is assessed on departure schedules of airlines, will be introduced for arrival schedules as well in near future, according to officials.