Airbus is optimistic about maintaining its delivery schedules of the A320neo, following the issues that last year troubled the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G-powered version of the narrowbody.
Speaking at a media briefing during Aero India in Bengaluru, Anand Stanley, president and managing director of Airbus India and South Asia, said the airframer would meet its target of delivering one A320neo per week to Indian airlines "irrespective of the engine type and engine issues".
Operators of the narrowbody can also select CFM International Leap-1A engines.
Stanley's comments follow last month's directive by India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation barring PW1100G-powered A320neos from operating flights to Port Blair, plus a series of inspections on the engines to identify and correct potential low-pressure turbine (LPT) blades and dry face seal failures, after aircraft were grounded over technical faults.
"Airbus has engaged with P&W, the DGCA and airlines to actively look at issues and aggressively address them. The reliability rate on the A320neo is 99.6%, and the significant number and rate of issues has not [increased] in the last 12 months. We are addressing issues by doing retrofits related to aircraft."
Stanley adds that so far, 95% of affected engines have been retrofitted. The remainder are to be retrofitted "in the next two months".
He notes that globally, the rate of issues pertaining to the PW1100G after 1,000h of flight time stands at 0.05. In India, the figure is 0.02.
"We are very optimistic... A lot of effort [has gone into solving the problems] and the numbers speak for themselves," says Stanley.
Cirium's Fleets Analyzer shows that IndiGo operates 68 A320neo-family aircraft, while GoAir has 30 of the re-engined narrowbody.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
