NEW DELHI: Civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered a safety audit on India's largest carrier IndiGo which operates the Pratt & Whitney powered Airbus A-320 NEO aircraft.
The type of aircraft has faced several engine issues mid-air in recent times. IndiGo in a statement confirmed the development and said, “There is currently a DGCA audit on IndiGo which is combined with the annual main base audit.”
The airline said that it has received ''a limited number of show cause notices'' and ''has responded accordingly.'' It added that it can comment on this matter after discussing with the DGCA. Multiple reports said that a show cause notice was sent to IndiGo’s Chief Operating Officer and its Head of Engineering by the DGCA on this matter. IndiGo, however, didn’t comment on this.
DGCA chief BS Bhullar said, ''We do a detailed audit of all airlines at least once in a year. Indigo is this month. Some other one in June. Every audit involves some actions.'' He added that ''in such audits, current safety issues remain quite a focus.''
At present, IndiGo and GoAir use the P&W powered A-320 Neos and both of them have been facing problems with these engines, mainly mid-air engine shutdowns, since their induction three years ago.
Earlier this month, the Delhi High Court had sought responses from the DGCA on a request which asked grounding of the mentioned aircraft.
IndiGo said, “We can confirm that IndiGo operation is run in even more stringent ways as prescribed by the regulatory framework.''
Indigo operates over 70 A-320 NEOs and has a fleet size of 220 aircraft. The audit also comes a month later when the regulator had grounded Boeing 737-MAX aircraft (used by SpiceJet) after the crash of an Ethiopian airliner in which 157 passengers lost their lives.