An IndiGo A320neo plane that was heading to Bengaluru had to return to Mumbai airport from where it had taken off because of high engine vibrations.
This is the second such incident this week where the A320neo aircraft has encountered issues with the engine.
According to a statement by the airline, the pilot had observed a caution message after which he decided to turn back.
An IndiGo A320neo aircraft was operating Mumbai-Bangalore this morning. During flight, the pilot observed a caution message. Standard operating procedures were followed and the aircraft was returned to Mumbai as a precaution,” IndiGo said in a statement.
On Monday, another Indigo A320neo flying from Chennai to Hyderabad faced the same issue and had to be grounded after landing.
In October, IndiGo had to confront four such incidents of engine failures in a week.
From October 24 to 26, IndiGo had three in-flight Pratt & Whitney (PW) engine shutdowns, compelling the aviation regulator DGCA to visit the airline’s premises on Monday to review the maintenance and safety data.
Following this, DGCA last month asked the low-cost carrier to replace all Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines on its Airbus A320neo family aircraft with new P&W power units.
The country’s air safety watchdog said that the decision was taken after ‘considerable deliberations. It has fixed January 2020 as the deadline for the replacement of all the faulty engines.
The carrier is the biggest client for A320neo planes and since the beginning, Indigo has faced issues with the Pratt & Whitney engines that resulted in grounding its planes on several occasions.
In a similar decision, the DGCA also ordered GoAir to modify 29 Airbus A320neo aircraft fitted with Pratt & Whitney engines within a period of 15 days to avoid them being grounded.
Later last month, the aviation regulator warned IndiGo that their efforts to modify the Airbus A320neo jets, comprising the problematic Pratt & Whitney (PW) engines, were not satisfactory. If the airline fails to meet DGCA’s requirements by the fixed deadline of January 31, 2020, then it will be forced to ground a major chunk of its fleet.