P&W Refusing To Provide Free Engine Repairs For Go First: Complaint

A less expensive carrier If Pratt & Whitney fails to meet its contractual obligations and provide the airline with spare engines, Go First may be forced to ground 8–12 additional aircraft in the next 6–12 months.

Discussions between GoFirst and Pratt & Whitney over the former’s PW-1100G geared turbofan (GTF) engines have stalled in recent months. As a result, GoFirst is considering suing Pratt & Whitney over the aircraft’s grounding.

Talks between Pratt & Whitney and GoFirst over the latter’s PW-1100G geared turbofan (GTF) engines have ceased in recent months. GoFirst is considering filing a lawsuit against Pratt & Whitney as a result of its grounded aircraft. GoFirst is suing Raytheon Technologies, the parent company of Pratt & Whitney, to recoup damages for the loss of business brought on by its grounded aircraft.

“According to GoFirst, Pratt & Whitney is not carrying out its contractual obligations.” The engine maker has ceased compensating GoFirst for stuck aircraft and will not provide free replacements for its faulty engines “According to a representative who overheard the exchange. He asserts that P&W is holding GoFirst “at ransom” by refusing to provide it with spare engines when the airline now has 23–24 grounded aircraft.

For its 72 A320neo aircraft, Go First ordered PW engines in 2019, along with a full-service agreement that mandated the engine manufacturer to pay for any maintenance difficulties. According to a second source, the engine manufacturer has refused to provide the airline with any further replacement engines. “Up to this time, GoFirst has received eight to nine spare engines from P&W,” the source stated.

He said that despite having a contract to restore damaged engines for no cost; P&W had insisted that GoFirst pay for such repairs. “P&W has demanded that GoFirst pay a full-service cost to fix the damaged engines,” the first official said. Both GoFirst and PW have not replied to any emails as of the time of publishing. The officials added that GoFirst had to halt its aircraft during the preceding 24 months as a result of faulty P&W engines.

For the last two years, P&W engines have had an average lifespan of 6,000 hours, which is fewer than the 15,000 hours that were anticipated for the engines. According to the second official, GoFirst was obligated to ground its aircraft as a result.

Moreover, it powers the ATR-72 and Bombardier Q-400 turboprops used by Alliance Air, IndiGo, and SpiceJet. According to reports in November, both airlines had to halt their aircraft as a result of delays in engine delivery brought on by substantial supply chain disruptions. As Go First is having trouble filling its capacity and keeping to its schedule, IndiGo has chosen to lease aircraft to satisfy demand.

Senior P&W executives met with Go First and IndiGo executives in November to discuss solutions to address problems with engine supply in India. These executives included President Shane Eddy and Rick Deurloo, head of the company’s commercial engines segment. P&W is actively addressing the supply chain disruption, according to the executives, and will be in much better shape by the end of 2022.

Since 2016, P&W’s geared turbofan engines have experienced technical issues, even leading to a few in-flight shutdowns. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s aviation regulator, has previously demanded that Indian airlines fix the defective engines before bringing on new aircraft.

Air India, a company owned by the Tata Group, ordered 470 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing earlier this month. P&W, however, has not been chosen to provide the engines for any of these aircraft; instead, GE Aerospace, CFM, and Rolls Royce will.

Pratt & Whitney may face legal action as a result of engine problems at GoFirst.

According to reports on Thursday, Indian airline GoFirst is planning legal action against Pratt & Whitney (PW) for failing to pay compensation for aircraft grounded due to engine supply delays after March 2020. PW engines are used in almost 90% of the airline’s fleet of aircraft. A total of 24 of the airline’s 55 aircraft are grounded as a result of PW’s delays in supplying engines. March 2023 will feature 27% fewer flights operated by Go First than in March 2022.

The three main terms of PW’s contract with GoFirst are as follows: PW must deliver a spare engine within 48 hours of an aircraft being grounded due to a faulty engine; faulty engines must be repaired without charge because they are covered by warranty; and PW must reimburse the airline for “productivity loss” brought on by grounded aircraft. “Up to March 2020, PW delivered spare engines on schedule, performed repairs at no charge, and paid partial compensation. After that, the airline did not receive anything, according to a source familiar with the situation.

According to reports, the Wadia group, which promoted Go First, invested roughly Rs 3,000 crore in the airline during the past 20 months. Throughout this time, they have also taken on debt totaling roughly Rs. 1,300 crores. According to sources, the organization first believed that battling PW would make things more difficult.

“The engine maker has been urged by the airline to uphold its contractual commitments.” Today, one of the obvious solutions is to use the legal system to remind them of their duties, according to a source. According to insiders, the airline has the right to sue and is seeking legal counsel on the situation.

Cirium records show that in March of last year, the airline flew 2,084 times each week. The airline now only operates 1,642 flights per week due to the additional planes that will be grounded in 2022. Only one other Indian airline, IndiGo, utilizes PW engines on its A320 aircraft.

Cirium reports that 34 of its aircraft are grounded as a result of PW supply engine delays. Given that it has a bigger fleet of roughly 300 aircraft compared to Go First, IndiGo’s flight operations have not been negatively impacted to the same degree.

Pieter Elbers, CEO of IndiGo, stated during an investor conference call on November 4 of last year that one of the pandemic’s major consequences on the aviation sector was supply chain interruptions in aircraft manufacture, which led to a global scarcity of replacement engines. The aircraft are being grounded, which has damaged our ability to effectively utilize all of our capacity. In 2016, Go First acquired its first A320 powered by PW engines.

Six to eight months after the first delivery, PW engines began experiencing problems, according to a source. The problems with Go First occur at a time when other Indian airlines are increasing their flight schedules in response to rising demand. According to Cirium’s data, Indian airlines were running 19,220 domestic flights each week as of March 2022. They are now doing 21,328 flights every week.

For its 72 A320neo aircraft, Go First ordered PW engines in 2019, along with a full-service agreement that mandated the engine manufacturer to pay for any maintenance difficulties. According to a second source, the engine manufacturer has refused to provide the airline with any further replacement engines. “Up to this time, GoFirst has received eight to nine spare engines from P&W,” the source stated.

Edited by Prakriti Arora