Responding to media reports that 12 of its Airbus A320 Neo aircraft have now been grounded, Interglobe Aviation, which operates the IndiGo Airlines, denied that any new development had taken place in this regard that merited public disclosure.
“There is nothing material at this stage to comment beyond our earlier letter…” it said, referring to its statement on March 13 in which it had said that it would ground 9 Airbus A320 Neos following a government directive.
The statement from InterGlobe seems to suggest that it has not been forced to ground an additional 3 aircraft as reported by the PTI report which had been quoted by the NSE in its query to the company.
On Monday, the PTI reported that three A320 Neo aircraft and two A320 Ceo aircraft had faced glitches “in the last 24 hours” and that this resulted “in the grounding of an A320 Neo”.
“With this, IndiGo now has as many as 12 A320 Neos on the ground,” the PTI report had added.
The agency report also quoted a statement from IndiGo that the airline had detected five technical snags in five planes “and of these only one aircraft has been grounded.”
The airline’s original statement came a day after the aviation sector regulator asked IndiGo and GoAir to ground 11 Airbus A320 Neo aircraft.
These aircraft are fitted with PW1100 engines made by US-based Pratt & Whitney and carrying engine serial numbers beyond 450.
Out of the 43 affected engines, 19 are reported to be in India.