IndiGo grounds three A320neos after red flag from European agency

Airbus said it had informed affected A320neo customers and operators, adding there are now 113 Pratt & Whitney-powered A320neo aircraft flying with 18 customers.

"We are honoured by the continuing confidence that SWISS has placed in Pratt & Whitney and in the GTF engine", said Chris Calio, President, Commercial Engines, Pratt & Whitney.

Technical issues with certain engines of IndiGo's A320neo planes had led to the grounding of many flights a year ago.

As a result of the grounding, IndiGo said, some of its flights have been cancelled.

"This problem is isolated and limited", assured Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of the USA industrial conglomerate United Technologies.

Not all of the engines are affected by the issue, though the spokesperson declined to say how many.

"Our precautionary measure of grounding the three aircraft resulted in cancellations of some of our flights". "We have identified the potentially affected engines and communicated with our customers". "Safety of aircraft, passenger and crew at IndiGo is of highest priority and at no time it can be compromised with", IndiGo further said.

An Airbus spokesman said it is "in discussions with customers about delivery schedules" on a case-by-case basis.

Airbus said in a statement that it had extended full support to Pratt & Whitney in its investigations into "the root cause of this new finding".

An industry source said 11 A320neos have been grounded to replace the engines.

Air safety officials in Europe clamped down on flights by planes powered by affected Pratt & Whitney engines, citing "several occurrences of engine in-flight shutdown", according to the Wall Street Journal.

This is the second problem affecting Pratt & Whitney GTF engines since the start of their marketing, the first causing delays in 2017 in delivery of the A320neo, the re-engined version of Airbus' single-aisle plane.

"To date, 113 P&W powered A320 neo family aircraft are flying with 18 customers", Airbus said in a statement.