P&W engine woes back to haunt IndiGo, Jaipur-bound flight grounded due to 'high vibration'

A Jaipur-bound IndiGo flight returned to Lucknow on Monday, January 21, after a "high vibration" was detected on one of its engines mid-air. The aircraft has now been grounded and is being inspected by the engineers of the airline.

The flight reportedly took off from Lucknow around 5 pm and was scheduled to reach Jaipur around 6.30 pm. However, engine 2 of the aircraft stalled mid-air and the pilot is said to have noticed high vibration. As a precautionary measure, the pilot decided to return and the flight landed in Lucknow soon after.

After the incident, IndiGo Airlines released a statement in which it said: "An IndiGo flight 6E-451 was operating from Lucknow to Jaipur on January 21, 2019. The pilot observed high vibration on engine number 2. As a precaution, he returned the aircraft to Lucknow. The aircraft is currently at Lucknow and being inspected by the technical team."

The IndiGo A320neo aircraft was powered by the Pratt & Whitney engine and the company too issued a statement.

The Indigo A320neo aircraft which was involved in the air turn back at Lucknow, Amausi, India on January 21, 2019, was powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-JM engines. We are working with our customer to help minimize any disruption to their operations," it said, according to the Press Trust of India.

However, P&W did not reveal other details of the issue.

IndiGo and another budget carrier GoAir use the Pratt & Whitney engine in India and have been facing issues for a while now. Several planes faced technical snags and remained grounded for a large part of 2018. After the trouble that the airlines have been facing, PW has been either rectifying or replacing these engines.

In March 2018, the country's civil aviation regulator grounded 11 Airbus A-320 neo aircraft after the planes fitted with a certain series of the Pratt & Whitney engines experienced several technical snags. The decision was made keeping in mind the safety of operations, the director general of civil aviation (DGCA) said.

At the time, the glitch was said to be in the knife-edge compressor seal in the engine turbine and Pratt & Whitney has said that it would replace the components. In an emailed statement to Bloomberg, the company said that it was working with its clients so that there is no disruption in operations and had already started delivering engines with the "upgraded configuration."