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Budget carrier IndiGo has denied media reports that 13 of its Airbus A-320 New Engine Option (NEO) aircraft are grounded.
According to some reports, the airline had grounded these aircraft which had led to the cancellation of 84 flights.
“The news is inaccurate. We made detailed and comprehensive comments in our last earnings call. We have no further comments to offer,” Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole-time Director, IndiGo, said in a statement.
He added that it is no “coincidence” that the news is spread on a day when “IndiGo came out on top in On Time Performance by a long margin”.
An airline spokesperson clarified that eight of its NEOs had been grounded. “Our schedule was planned in June on non-availability of these aircraft for July, August and September. The affected passengers have already been accommodated with suitable options,” he said.
“Four of our current engine option (CEO) aircraft are grounded due to the engines being stuck at customs. We are awaiting certain clarifications post the implementation of GST, which has led to unplanned flight cancellations. All passengers have been informed of the changes and accommodated accordingly.”
During a call with analysts after declaring its financial results in July, Ghosh had said that the airline continued to have operational issues with the Airbus A-320 NEO aircraft due to engine issues.
He had said that there had been days when the airline had had to “ground as many as nine NEOs due to lack of spare engines”.
He had added that the airline continued to have high number of engine removals and sufficient spare engines were not available.
“Based on what we know today, it may be another year or so before the design changes are implemented by Pratt and Whitney which should allow these engines to have the on-wing flight hours that we expect from them,” he had said.
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