IndiGo grounds three flights in 24 hours over technical problems.

NewDelhi: Budget carrier IndiGo Airlines has grounded another Neo aircraft after a technical fault. The airline has grounded three flights in a span of 24 hours and sixth within a week. The latest flight to be grounded, 6E 559, was set to fly to Srinagar from Jammu when fuel leakage was spotted from engine 1.

On Sunday, A320 Neo aircraft that operated on the Delhi-Srinagar route earlier in the day was temporarily grounded at Srinagar following detection of a hydraulic leak in an engine.

Confirming the same, IndiGo had said in a statement, “An A320 Neo aircraft that operated Delhi-Srinagar was cleared after maintenance checks upon arrival at Srinagar airport. However, during engine start, the pilot-in-command observed a hydraulic (not oil) leakage from engine 2. The aircraft was immediately withdrawn to investigate the hydraulic leak. The issue has been rectified and the aircraft is now fit to fly.”

IndiGo earlier announced that its A320 Neo aircraft that operated on the Bengaluru-Delhi route on Sunday was withdrawn in Delhi for a maintenance check to attend to a reported defect.

“During the maintenance check, metal chips were observed on 1 Engine, 3 Bearing Chip detector, which is a known concern on the Neo engine,” a statement said.

This comes just days after IndiGo and GoAir decided to cancel more than 600 flights this month, of which 480 are by IndiGo alone, following grounding of 11 A320 neo planes with faulty Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines.

The cancellations by the two budget carriers, which operate more than 1,200 flights daily on average, may significantly disrupt the summer schedule. There was no immediate clarity about the way possible compensation and alternative choices would be made available to the passengers already having tickets.

IndiGo, which has the largest share in the domestic aviation market, would be cancelling as many as 488 flights during the period March 15-31. GoAir has decided to cancel a total of 138 flights between March 15-22, as per announcements made on their respective websites.

According to the curtailed flight schedule submitted to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and posted on the airline’s website, IndiGo would not operate 36 daily flights between March 15 and March 21.