‘Go Wanted To Jump the Line in Engine Delivery’

May 15, 2023
Go Airlines India wanted Pratt & Whitney to ignore engine requests from other airlines and provide more engines than it won in arbitration, two people close to the US-based engine maker said.

May 14—NEW DELHI — Go Airlines India (Ltd) wanted Pratt & Whitney to ignore engine requests from other airlines and provide more engines than it won in arbitration, two people close to the US-based engine maker said.

"Currently, Go (Air) is seeking to jump the line for engines over other customers worldwide," one of the two people cited above said on the condition of anonymity. The company expects the engine situation to normalize this year. The person did not disclose details on the number of engines Go Airlines has sought from the engine maker.

In its insolvency petition, Go Airlines, which operates under the brand name Go First, has blamed Pratt & Whitney for the delay in the delivery of serviceable engines.

The Wadia Group airline claims the share of aircraft grounded due to Pratt & Whitney's faulty engines grew from 7% in December 2019 to 31% in December 2020 to 50% in December 2022. It also said the engine maker refused to comply with an award issued by an emergency arbitrator appointed in accordance with the 2016 Arbitration Rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre that ordered the release and dispatch without delay to Go at least 10 serviceable spare leased engines by 27 April 2023, and a further 10 spare leased engines per month until December 2023.

"The entire Indian aviation sector is hit due to sub-standard products supplied by the engine makers. P&W cannot wash their hands off their liabilities after supplying sub-standard engines which has led to huge losses for all airlines. 18% of Indian aviation capacity is currently grounded due to non-supply of engines by P&W," Go First chairman Varun Berry said in a statement.

" Pratt & Whitney is complying with the arbitration order, which asks Pratt & Whitney to take all reasonable steps to dispatch engines to Go First. We are invested in all our customers' success," a Pratt & Whitney spokesperson said.

Questions emailed to a Go Airlines spokesperson remained unanswered till press time.

Pratt & Whitney, a Raytheon Group company, is also hopeful of improvement in the supply chain issues in the current year, as the shortage of engines and spare parts has grounded nearly 40 aircraft of IndiGo, India's largest airline by market share.

"Supply chain recovery following the pandemic remains stressed. We believe the situation will stabilize throughout 2023. This will support the increased output of new and overhauled engines. In the interim, we are providing direct logistical support to our suppliers. We are expanding our MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) capacity and working to reduce shop visit turnaround times to improve service availability," the spokesperson added.

Go Airlines has accused Pratt & Whitney of engine issues that began with their deliveries in 2016 and intensified since 2020; however, the two issues are not related, a second person at the engine maker said.

"Current supply chain issues, durability enhancements, the earlier upgrades made to the GTF (geared turbo-fan), and a business dispute with Go First are separate and should not be clubbed together as engine issue," the second person said. The geared turbo-fan engines of Pratt & Whitney that power the A320neo fleet promises to reduce fuel consumption by 16%.

"We have improved time on the wing since programme inception, but we are not yet at the level we expected to achieve. As with any engine development programme, especially with the technology that's new and revolutionary, like the geared architecture, we continue to develop solutions to improve engine durability. In parallel, we are executing on our GTF Advantage development programme, our next-generation GTF configuration, that will incorporate all our experiences and technical learnings since entering the service," the Pratt & Whitney spokesperson said.

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