IndiGo sees more groundings in Q4 due to Pratt & Whitney engines issues

Indigo stood by its capacity growth forecasts for the year on Tuesday even as it expects to ground more than 30 planes in Q4 due to issues related to its Pratt & Whitney engines. The country's biggest airline is on an aggressive expansion spree to cater to a boom in air travel and has been growing its capacity by 25% in the last few quarters. That has helped it mitigate capacity constraints arising from the grounding of planes including about 40 aircraft for older issues. The mitigation measures include leasing new planes and extending agreements, especially to offset disruption from new engine problems. IndiGo, which operated 334 planes as of Sept. 30, has retained 14 of its older Airbus A320ceo, extended leases on 36 other aircraft and is taking 11 additional aircraft on lease starting November. It is also leasing 12 more A320ceos from the secondary market starting January, IndiGo's CFO, Gaurav Negi, said on an earnings call on Friday.<br/>