NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA ) on Thursday barred Airbus A320 Neos with Pratt & Whitney (PW) engines from flying to Port Blair or any other overseas route where an alternate landing place is over an hour away during any point in its entire journey over the ocean, said a senior regulatory official. This restriction will apply to IndiGo and GoAir that use PW engines on their A320 new engine option (Neo) aircraft.“The flight from Kolkata to Port Blair is of almost 1.5-hour duration. This restriction has been imposed for safety reason as there must be an airport within one hour of flying time during entire journey of A320 Neo with PW engines so that the plane can safely land at the nearest alternate on a single engine when one engine develops a snag,” said the official. Twin engine planes can land on one engine at suitable nearest airport when an engine has a snag. IndiGo and GoAir together have over 100 PW-powered A320 Neos currently. There have been some instances of PW-powered Neos developing snags while flying to and from Port Blair.Secondly, the no-long-overseas-flight decision has been taken for commercial reasons also. “When a Neo with faulty Pratt engine gets stuck in Port Blair, it takes longer for the airline to fly in man and material there to repair or replace the same. Examination of the faulty PW engine also takes longer there. And Port Blair is a small airport that has one less aircraft parking bay as long as the Neo remains grounded there, limiting its capacity,” the official added.In addition, the DGCA has also asked IndiGo and GoAir to "create awareness among cabin and cockpit crew (pilots) about odour/burning smell/smoke (even if slightest) during approach phase and positive reporting to cockpit crew for necessary action…. Log all the cases detecting odours/ smoke in cabin during operation for necessary investigation and rectification. In all odour/smoke cases, engine to be inspected in detail and to be used only after rectification of defect.”The regulator’s latest directives for PW-powered A320 Neos also include more rigorous checks on engine components.The DGCA had about three years ago asked IndiGo and GoAir to avoid flying A320 Neo with PW engines to coastal areas. At that time, these engines were suffering lot of combustion chamber-related snags. PW had then told authorities here that could be happening due to high salinity and then DGCA advised IndiGo and GoAir to avoid flying to coastal areas. Later this restriction as removed when PW resolved the combustion chamber issues with its Neo engines.The DGCA has so far not allowed A320 Neos with PW engines to be flown on routes where they are more than an hour away from a nearest airport at any point during the journey, due to the frequent snags in Pratt engines for this popular aircraft. The US and European aviation regulators have given this nod over the last two to three years.As a result, the PW-powered A320 Neos with Indian carriers — IndiGo and GoAir — do not have “extended diversion time operations” (EDTO) clearance. This clearance is required for aircraft with two or more engines to operate routes where the nearest suitable airport to make an emergency landing or divert to is more than an 60 minutes away at any point during the origin-destination journey. The PW-powered Neos in India have to fly on routes where an alternate landing airport is within 60 minutes away during their entire journey.Last year, IndiGo sought removal of restrictions on routes where its PW-powered A320 Neos aircraft can fly to enable them to operate this plane on longer sectors. With the latest restrictions, that approval seems unlikely in near future.