IndiGo “remains cautiously optimistic” and hopes the issues relating to Pratt and Whitney engines affecting it Airbus A-320 New Engine Option (NEO) aircraft are resolved at the earliest.

“As you are aware, the NEOs continue to have issues resulting in a couple of parts wearing out sooner than they should and we are not happy with the situation,” Rahul Bhatia, co-Founder and interim Chief Executive Officer, said on Monday, adding that the airline continues to rely on adequate availability of spare engines to keep its aircraft flying.

“However, sporadically, we do face shortages and some planes have been temporarily grounded. We expect the situation with the spare engines to improve in the current quarter,” he added. Late last week, the airline confirmed that “a few A 320 New Engine Option (NEO) have been taken out of service proactively”, while they await spare engines from Pratt and Whitney (PW).

IndiGo, however, did not specify the number of aircraft that had been affected. “The release of additional spare engines has been initiated by PW so that all aircraft are expected to be back in service in the second-half of August,” the airline said, without specifying since when the aircraft have been out of service. Industry sources point out that at least five of the 173 Airbus in the IndiGo fleet have been affected.

Meanwhile, IndiGo has secured the rights to launch flights to Abu Dhabi, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Male, Jeddah and Hong Kong, Bhatia said.

“With our existing fleet and the new A321 NEOs that we expect to start getting towards the end of the year, IndiGo will have the capability to reach cities in China, Middle East and South-East Asia,” Bhatia said, adding that the airline is evaluating all such opportunities to expand its network.

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