NEW DELHI: With US federal aviation administration issuing proposed airworthiness directives for Airbus 320 Neos, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) chief on Friday said the Indian aviation regulator has already met the criterion.
The DGCA has already communicated to airlines using neo engines that no engine without modified main gearbox (MGB) will be permitted to fly. Forty-nine engines with modified MGB have already been received.
Aviation regulator DGCA chief Arun Kumar said, “We are a step ahead. DGCA has already issued a direction to the operators that no engine without modified MGB shall be accepted from September onwards after the shop/MRO visit and currently 49 engines have been received with modified MGB.”
He said the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a proposed airworthiness directive for the problem-plagued Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines that power Airbus A320 neo family aircraft.
The AD, for which it is soliciting comments by mid-November, would require all operators of the PW1100G family of turbofan engines to replace the main gearbox assembly and electronic engine control software. Indigo and Go Air fly a big number of A320 neo family aircrafts in India.
Indigo had first introduced a neo aircraft in March 2016 and officials claimed that technical snags kept on occurring in these aircraft. As per a recent RTI reply, 126 neo engines of Indigo fleet were replaced till June 2019.
Officials said the high number of replacement is due to tough enforcement by the regulator and stricter compliance of safety rules by the airlines.