PRAGUE, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Wizz Air ( WZZAF ) aims to end

engine-related groundings of its Airbus aircraft by the

end of 2027, but has yet to see an improvement in Pratt &

Whitney bottlenecks blamed for blocking dozens of jets,

a senior executive said on Tuesday.

The number of aircraft grounded by long waiting times for

inspections has fallen to 38 from a peak near 60, CFO Ian Malin

said. At the half-year stage, Wizz said it had 41 aircraft

grounded due to GTF engine-related inspections.

"Overall, the plan right now is to get the entire fleet

unparked by the end of calendar year 2027. That is the target

that we're working towards," he told the International Society

of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT) conference in Prague.

"That will be challenging, especially when we're sitting

here with 38 aircraft (on the ground)," he said.

Wizz Air ( WZZAF ) CEO Jozsef Varadi told Bloomberg in September that

he aimed to turn Wizz Air's ( WZZAF ) fortunes around by mid-2027.

Hungary-based Wizz has struggled in recent years to compete

financially with other European carriers as it grapples with the

engine challenges. The groundings have limited its ability to

increase capacity and it has issued two profit warnings.

"Pratt is actually showing some availability of engines, but

the overall turnaround time is not improving...Pratt has said

that that's coming down. I haven't seen it yet," Malin said.

"It is extremely frustrating, because we've been dealing

with it for now two-and-a-half years," he added.

Pratt & Whitney parent RTX did not immediately

respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. aerospace group's CEO Chris Calio said in September

that cases of aircraft on the ground due to Pratt engines have

stabilized, and are expected to come down, but "clearly we have

more work to do." The company expects maintenance, repair and

overhaul service to be up 30% year-over-year.