IndiGo, India’s largest airline, anticipates grounding at least 35 planes in the upcoming March quarter due to powder metal issue with the Pratt & Whitney engines.

This adds to the nearly 40 aircraft already grounded for other engine-related issues. With a fleet of 334 planes at the end of September, the airline is expected to encounter capacity constraints in the March quarter, despite ongoing efforts to address the situation. The airline said in a statement, “We have recently received additional information on the powder metal issue from Pratt & Whitney and based on our preliminary assessment of this, we anticipate Aircraft on Ground (AOG) in the range of mid-thirties in the fourth quarter (Jan-Mar2024) due to accelerated engine removals. These groundings will be incremental to the current AOGs.” Earlier this year, the engine maker flagged the impact of the powder metal issue that has affected its new generation GTF aircraft engine. “Globally, we understand that 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.