India threatens to ground jets unless engines fixed, after four incidents

India said all Airbus A320neo jets operated by IndiGo, the model’s biggest customer, must get fixes for their Pratt & Whitney engines by Jan. 31 or be grounded. There have been four incidents involving IndiGo-operated jets with Pratt engines in the past week, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement Friday, expressing its “serious concern.” That compares with 15 for all Indian operators in three years through August. “Four successive events have not happened ever before,” it said. “We need desperate measures to put things in order.” The move marks a further setback for Pratt, a unit of United Technologies Corp., which has suffered delivery delays and groundings in India. IndiGo, which has close to 100 A320neo-family jets and is adding them at a rate of more than one a week, said it will work with the engine maker and Airbus so that it has enough modified spare turbines to meet the requirement. The engine makers may need to provide 100 to 150 new turbines or spares in the next three months, representing a “significant additional burden,” Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Humphrey said in a note. The Indian move could require compensation payments and risks impacting airline operations, he said. Indigo has 98 A320neo planes, with around 45% of its engines modified. The airline said it was confident of meeting the stipulations of an earlier directive, while describing efforts to comply with the expanded requirements as “mitigation.” The flying schedule remains intact in the meantime, it said.<br/>