RIO DE JANEIRO, June 7 (Reuters) - Italy's ITA Airways will

decide within the next eight weeks whether to sue aerospace

supplier RTX's Pratt & Whitney due to engine problems

that have grounded almost 20% of its fleet of 80 aircraft, the

carrier's CEO said on Sunday.

Hundreds of A320neo planes, the latest version of the Airbus

single-aisle jets, have been grounded globally.

This has been partly due to long waiting times for engine

inspections and repairs, and after a manufacturing problem at

Pratt & Whitney put pressure on the output of the fuel-efficient

GTF engines in Airbus planes.

"It's imminent," Joerg Eberhart, CEO of ITA Airways, said on

the sidelines of a global gathering of top airline executives in

Rio de Janeiro. "We will have to decide within the next six to

eight weeks."

RTX did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The

U.S.-based industrial giant has previously said Pratt is taking

various steps to improve repairs after disclosing in 2023 a new

GTF problem involving contaminated powder metal.

"So far, we are quantifying the damage we are facing, which

is about 150 million euros," Eberhart said. "We are in talks

with Pratt, and what they proposed so far is not sufficient to

cover our damage."