Go First is planning to take legal action against Pratt & Whitney for not providing compensation for their grounded planes due to engine supply delays. According to a source from the airline: “Till March 2020, PW provided spare engines on time, repaired without cost, and provided some compensation. However, the airline has not received anything after that.”
Majority of Go First’s fleet has Pratt & Whitney engines and currently about 24 of airline’s 55 planes are grounded due to supply chain woes. The airline is operating on 27% less capacity in March 2023 as compared to same time last year.
As per Pratt’s contract with the airline, the engine maker has to provide a spare engine within 48 hours of an aircraft getting grounded due to its faulty engine; faulty engines have to be repaired free of charge as they are under warranty; and compensation has to be provided to the airline for productivity loss due to grounded planes.
Sources claims that the promotors of airline, Wadia Group has already infused about INR 3bn in the airline in the last 20 months. The airline has also taken a loan of INR 1.3bn.
The airline has been trying to negotiate with Pratt & Whitney to provide compensation of the grounded fleet and honor the contractual obligations, but now the airline is left with no option but to take legal action against them, sources claim.
According to Cirium’s data, Go First operated 2,084 flights a week in March 2022. However, with more planes being grounded in 2022, flight operations have been downsized, with the airline operating 1,642 flights a week.
Apart from Go First about 34 of IndiGo’s planes are also grounded due to delays in engine supply from Pratt, according to Cirium. However, IndiGo’s flight operations have not been affected to the same extent as Go First’s, as it has a larger fleet of about 300 planes.
Go First received its first PW engine-powered A320 plane in 2016. “PW engines started facing issues 6-8 months after the first delivery,” a source said.
Go First’s issues come at a time when other Indian carriers are expanding their flights due to increased demand. According to Cirium’s data, in March 2022, Indian carriers were operating 19,220 domestic flights a week. As March 2023, Indian airlines are operating 21,328 flights a week.