india

Updated: Nov 01, 2019 06:28 IST

One of the Pratt and Whitney (P&W) engines of an IndiGo A320neo plane that was heading from Kolkata to Pune on Wednesday evening stalled mid-air, forcing the pilot to return to the Kolkata airport, making it the fourth such incident involving P&W engines at the low-cost carrier in a week, a person familiar with the matter said.

On three consecutive days from October 24 to 26, IndiGo had three in-flight P&W engine shutdowns, compelling the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to visit the airline’s premises on Monday to review the maintenance and safety data.

“The Kolkata-Pune flight 6E-862 on Wednesday evening was gaining altitude and at around 9,000 feet, one of its engines stalled. The pilot immediately turned back and brought the aircraft to the Kolkata airport. The plane is currently grounded,” the person privy to the development said.

The DGCA directed the low-cost carrier on Monday to replace the P&W engines of 16 A320neo aircraft, which were used for over 3,000 hours, within the next 15 days or face grounding of these planes. It issued similar instructions to GoAir on Tuesday.