IndiGo has grounded an A320 neo aircraft after mid-air shut down of a Pratt & Whitney engine, a source said Thursday. The plane, which was flying from Port Blair to Kolkata, returned to Port Blair and made an emergency landing. The incident happened December 23, the source added. The airline has been grappling with P&W engine problems for quite some time. According to the source, the pilot of the aircraft reported failure of one of the engines and sought a turn back. This was the fourth incident of an IndiGo plane facing technical glitch mid-air since Dec 10. An IndiGo spokesperson said the aircraft returned to Port Blair after the pilot observed low oil pressure in one of the engines. The aircraft is withdrawn from service for further checks at Port Blair, she added. <br/>
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Bamboo Airways will yet again delay its first commercial flight until next year as the new airline has not obtained all necessary licenses from local authorities. Bamboo Airlines' maiden flight will be launched in mid-January, its CE Dang Tat Thang said Thursday. Airline chairman Trinh Van Quyet said last month that it aimed to launch the first domestic flight Dec 29, after failing to launch services in October as previously planned. A company source said this week that the airline is still waiting for the issuance of an AOC by the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam. Bamboo Airways, Vietnam's fifth airline, signed a provisional deal to buy 20 Boeing 787-9 wide-body jets worth US$5.6b at list prices in July, as well as a memorandum of understanding with Airbus for up to 24 A320neo narrow-bodies in March. <br/>
Spirit Airlines, once the most likely to show up late or cancel a flight, is trying a new tactic: punctuality. Spirit was on time more often than any other US airline in October, according to the latest available govt data. This year its flights have been on time nearly 81% of the time, besting rivals including American Airlines and United Continental. Fliers still gripe about Spirit to the federal govt at a higher rate than they do about almost any other airline. But the complaint rate in the first 9 months of this year was down 75% from the same period in 2015, the first year the govt tracked such figures for Spirit. “We’re shedding some of the negatives we earned—justifiably earned—5 or 6 years ago,” said CE Bob Fornaro. <br/>
Iranian investigators have determined that poor maintenance procedures, allowing contamination of hydraulic lines, led to a gear-up landing by a Qeshm Air Fokker 100 earlier this year. The aircraft had departed Tehran Mehrabad for Mashhad Feb 16 but, some 10nm from touchdown, its crew discovered problems with the left-hand main landing-gear. Several attempts to recycle the undercarriage were not successful. As it landed the aircraft veered off the left side of the runways suffering left wing structure and flap damage from ground contact. The landing-gear was also damaged. Examination of the hydraulic system has concluded that “foreign pollution” entered while C-check maintenance was being carried out on a restrictor valve and hose from the left-hand landing-gear actuator. <br/>
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) will subject VietJet Air to special monitoring following an incident where an aircraft landed on a closed runway at Nha Trang’s Cam Ranh International. The VietJet Airbus A320 was operating flight VJ689 on the Nha Trang-Ho Chi Minh City route. A few minutes into the flight the crew detected an unspecified “technical warning.” The crew returned to Nha Trang and landed on a runway that has been completed but which has yet to open. A similar incident occurred April 30, when a Vietnam Airlines A321 also landed on the same closed runway, which was then under construction. Should the agency be satisfied by Jan 15, the regime will be lifted. If it is not satisfied VietJet will be subjected to what the CAAV refers to a “special phase 2 supervision.” <br/>
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft has signed a trilateral letter of intent covering the delivery of 6 Superjet 100s with Orient Thai Airlines Company and maintenance firm Wishv. The deal was signed as part of an inter-governmental Russia-Thailand economy panel. "According to the terms of the agreement signed there should be 6 SSJ100 delivered in 2019-2020," says Sukhoi. "The aircraft are to fly both within the country and abroad." Sukhoi Civil Aircraft president Alexander Rubtsov had earlier this month been quoted in Russian media as saying it was aiming to agree deal with a Thai start-up carrier before year-end. It says Wishv is undergoing the process of securing approval as an SSJ100 maintenance station in Thailand. "It is anticipated that the agreement is to be turned into the firm order early in 2019," Sukhoi adds. <br/>