Aircraft groundings for budget carrier IndiGo have gone up to over 70 from the earlier 40 for its Airbus A320 neo planes after a recent powder metal issue with Pratt and Whitney engines, but the airline continued to report a profit for the fifth consecutive quarter.
“Our aircraft on ground are in the mid-70s, which is a slight improvement from our previous estimate,” said IndiGo’s Chief Financial Officer, Gaurav Negi, in a post-results call. Until October-end, the groundings were in the “mid-40s”. In July, PW had said that the powder metal defect could lead to the cracking of some engine components in the twin-engined Airbus A320neo planes and called for accelerated inspections.
However, this has not affected the airline’s growth in capacity which is expected to be over 20% for the financial year 2024, above its earlier projection of a rate of mid-teens. The airline, which has 358 aircraft in its fleet, will continue to add a plane a week and along with additional measures such as aircraft on wet leases, it expects the expansion to offset the groundings in a “few months”.
IndiGo reported a profit of ₹2,998 crore for the quarter ended December. “We continue to recover from the losses of Covid and have now become net worth positive again,” the airline said in a press statement.
