How safe is the Airbus A320 Neo? According to India’s and European aviation experts, they are not safe enough to fly. In the third alarming incident on Sunday in India’s domestic skies, yet another Airbus 320 neo aircraft was grounded due to a major engine snag.
This brings the total number of similar instances of serious technical glitches to six in the past week alone, sending Indias domestic flights into a tailspin of heavy turbulence.
European and Indian aviation regulators have ruled that aircraft which are fitted with Pratt and Whitney engines –specifically model PW 1100 –are at fault, thus endangering passenger safety, and have therefore ordered all such aircrafts to be grounded.
Two of India’s low-cost carriers, IndiGo and Go Air, deploy these engine types on their A320 neo ( new engine options ) aircraft, which utilizes two engines during flight operations.
Flying these faulty engines comprises safety regulations. The dizzy number of such engine malfunctionings have climbed to 100 since last September.
Regulators have forced the grounding of 14 A320 neo aircraft of which 11 belong to IndiGo and 3 to Go Air.
As a result of these massive groundings, both airlines have together canceled,626 flights for the month of March, on the eve of the peak travel season thus reducing total available domestic flight capacity by as much as 50 %.
