New Delhi: IndiGo airlines cancelled 47 flights on Tuesday after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) grounded 11 Airbus 320 Neo planes. The move has come after an IndiGo flight’s engine had got failed mid-air. The flight was flying from Ahmedabad to Lucknow. However, all the 186 passengers safely landed.
The DGCA yesterday grounded nine IndiGo flights along with three GoAir planes after it had observed that the number of engine failure cases had crossed 100. IndiGo uses 32 Pratt and Whitney engine planes out of which nine were grounded, and GoAir has 13 Pratt and Whitney engine planes out of which three were grounded by the DGCA on Monday.
IndiGo had released a statement on Monday on the DGCA’s decision and said: “We are in receipt of the communication from the DGCA and we shall promptly comply with the directions of the DGCA. Upon implementation of the directive, IndiGo shall have a total of nine A320 Neo aircraft on the ground. The affected passengers would be accommodated on other flights on our network. Safety is our top priority.”
This is not the first time that an IndiGo flight had to return after taking off. A Kolkata-bound IndiGo flight, GE-395, on March 1 had to return to Mumbai due to mid-air engine failure.