The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will issue a safety directive next week to address problems associated with Pratt & Whitney-run Airbus A320neo aircraft.

DGCA will consult the US aviation safety regulator FAA or Federal Aviation Administration and will also seek inputs from airlines and engine maker, before releasing the norms next week, most likely on Monday.

In a three-hour-long meeting held on Tuesday with top officials from Airbus, Pratt & Whitney, IndiGo and GoAir, the ministry did a root cause analysis of all the recent issues causing operational difficulty in A320neo operations.

The meeting was also attended by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, civil aviation secretary RN Choubey and director general of directorate general of civil aviation BS Bhullar among others.

Ruling out the possibility of any grounding, the aviation secretary said that the ministry is satisfied with the corrective action taken by airlines and engine maker so far. It was a matter of relief that the occurrence of in-flight shutdown or engine failure in A320neos in India was found lower than the global average, Choubey said.

The meeting noted that Inflight Shutdown (IFSD) on account of these neo engines in India has averaged 0.02 per 1,000 engine flight hours which is considerably lower than the stringent global benchmark of 0.05 IFSD rate.

So far, there have been 12 IFSDs reported in India since neo engines entry into service from March 2016, DGCA said in a statement.

"Most of these IFSD and other related incidents have happened due to failure of “Number 3 Bearing” seal, failure of “Knife Edge Seal”, erosion of combustion chamber material, low pressure turbine rotor blades damage and issues relating to the main gear box," it said.

According to the aviation regulator, FAA and its European counterpart EASA have not declared A320neo as unsafe.

The meeting held amid rising issues with Pratt & Whitney engine-run A320neos, with the country's largest airline IndiGo experiencing the most number of incidents, forcing it to ground planes on several occasions.

In the most recent such development, the recurring glitches on the P&W-powered Airbus planes have forced the Wadia group-run budget carrier GoAir to ground as many as seven A320 Neos.

Pratt & Whitney said, "Appreciated the thoughtful exchange of information with the ministry and DGCA. All parties are now aligned on the status of the GTF program in India, whose reliability has greatly improved over the last year. The GTF programme continues to be certified to the industry’s highest safety standards."

This is not the first time that the government has decided to intervene in the issues surrounding A320neo operations in the country. In March 2018, the ministry called for a similar meeting of all stakeholders after the DGCA grounded 11 Airbus A320neo aircraft of IndiGo and three of GoAir, following warning of a potential "dual-engine" in-flight shutdown or complete engine failure in a sub-category of A320neo engines manufactured by P&W.

Right since its induction in March 2016, A320neos have been a cause of concern for IndiGo, be it delay in delivery, issues revolving cooling down and start-up time of the engine, reliability, combustion chamber lining, oil seal, fan blades or combustor chamber.

First Published:Jan 8, 2019 10:32 PM IST