An IndiGo Airlines flight (6E923) on the Chennai-Kolkata sector returned to Meenambakkam’s Kamraj airport a little over an hour after take-off on Thursday after experiencing a technical snag.
The flight, operated with a twin-engine Airbus A320Neo (VT-ITW), and with a scheduled departure time of 7.35 p.m., took off at 8.10 p.m.
However, 30 minutes into the flight, the crew experienced an engine issue around 20,000 ft and off the coast of Chennai. The crew then decided to return and made a safe landing at Meenambakkam around 9.19 p.m. The jet, which has Pratt and Whitney PW1100G geared turbofan engines, continues to be grounded at Chennai airport as on Saturday.
Confirming the incident, the airline’s corporate communications team, said, “Flight 6E923 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."
A senior Chennai airport official said the crew did not declare an emergency, adding that the airline had arranged another aircraft for the passengers. He said an aircraft airworthiness official is investigating the incident.
The January 3 incident, which came to light on Saturday, is the latest in a series of cases involving a Pratt & Whitney engine. IndiGo has borne the brunt of these problems in the A320Neo planes powered by P&W engines since their induction in its fleet in 2016.
When contacted, Civil Aviation Secretary R.N. Choubey said, “Ministry has taken serious note (of the incident) and we will review it on Tuesday.”
Meanwhile, the government’s apex aircraft investigation body AAIB has rushed a team to Chennai to assess the incident and take a call on the probe.
“As per settled practice, we have sent a team. We are awaiting details,” a senior official of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said. The official, however, said it was not yet decided whether AAIB will probe the incident or the aviation regulator DGCA.
The bureau, which investigates serious incidents and accidents involving Indian registered aircraft, is already probing IndiGo Jaipur-Kolkta flight smoke incident on December 10.
In India, two budget carriers IndiGo and GoAir operate P&W engine-powered Airbus A320 planes, while Air India and Vistara, which also operate these latest single-aisle planes, have CFM engines.
However, the P&W engines-run aircraft have been facing glitches every now and then since their induction in the fleet by the two operators in 2016, with several instances of mid-air engine shutdowns. However, the engine maker has failed to come up with any tangible solution to fix these issues so far despite frequent grounding of these planes and passengers safety at risk.
(With PTI inputs)
