An IndiGo Airbus A320neo plane flying to Kolkata from Chennai suffered a mid-air engine failure with a “loud bang” and was forced to return mid-way on Thursday, prompting the Civil Aviation Ministry to order a review.
The January 3 incident, which came to light on Saturday, is the latest in a series of cases involving the Pratt & Whitney engine. The plane returned mid-way to Chennai and has been grounded there since then due to damaged engine blades, sources said.
Civil Aviation Secretary R.N. Choubey said, “Ministry has taken serious note (of the incident) and we will review it on Tuesday.”
“One of the P&W engines of IndiGo neo aircraft operating on Chennai-Kolkata route on January 3 stalled mid-air followed by a loud bang and sparks from it and smoke, leading to heavy vibration,” a source said. The incident forced the A320neo aircraft to return to Chennai under emergency conditions. The number of people on board the flight could not be ascertained.
“This was for the first time that that an A320neo faced multiple problems — smoke, heavy vibration, loud bang and engine stalled — in one single flight,” the source added.
IndiGo, which is facing such issues in the A320neo planes powered by P&W engines since their induction in the fleet in 2016 and has received compensation from both Airbus and the engine maker for each grounding, said the aircraft returned to Chennai due to “technical caution” noted by the crew.
“An IndiGo flight 6E 923 (Neo) operating Chennai-Kolkata route on January 3 returned to Chennai after take-off due to a technical caution noted by the crew.
“The crew followed the normal operating procedures and asked for a priority landing. There was no engine shutdown and no emergency landing was declared as per the report,” IndiGo said in the statement.
