New Delhi: Germany’s flag carrier Lufthansa has temporarily grounded a third of its Airbus A220 fleet in Zurich due to issues with Pratt & Whitney engines, days after India’s Wadia Group-owned Go First accused it of supplying “faulty engines”.
Lufthansa temporarily grounds a third of its Airbus A220 fleet in Zurich due to issues with Pratt & Whitney engines pic.twitter.com/uI4TX1flyi
— ANI (@ANI) May 4, 2023
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said in a statement that elements were missing way down in their supply chains, and that companies needed to rebuild their production facilities.
India’s third-largest airline, which filed for bankruptcy Tuesday, said it had to ground 25 aircraft or about 50% of its Airbus A320neo aircraft fleet — as of 1 May — due to issues with Pratt & Whitney engines. Pratt & Whitney is the exclusive engine supplier for Go First’s Airbus A320 neo aircraft fleet.
Go First has argued in the case that Pratt & Whitney engines had a “serious design flaw” which caused shutdowns and premature failure, and led to the grounding of its aircraft.
The US engine-maker, on the other hand, said the recently-branded Go First “had a lengthy history of missing its financial obligations” to P&W.
The Wadia Group-owned airline has now cancelled flights till 9 May and assured passengers a full refund — a day after it abruptly suspended operation and declared insolvency. The cash-strapped airline has also suspended the sale of tickets till 15 May.
To Go First’s charge, the US firm hit back saying the Wadia Group had a “lengthy history” of missing financial obligations to the company.
But in a three-page, strongly-worded statement Tuesday, Go First – formerly GoAir — said the airline was set back by Rs 10,800 crores in lost revenues and additional expenses. “Moreover, Go First has paid Rs 5,657 crores to lessors in the last two years of which approximately Rs 1,600 crores was paid towards lease rent for non-operational grounded aircraft from the funds infused by the Promoters & Government of India’s Emergency CreditLine Guarantee Scheme,” the statement read.
The company also said the Go First management had repeatedly sought to engage with Pratt & Whitney on the engine issue, but Pratt & Whitney did not respond constructively. “Instead, despite its contractual obligations to provide a spare leased engine within 48 hours of failure, it refused to provide sufficient spare leased engines to Go First and refused to repair Go First’s engines.”
Also read: Air India may open doors for Go First crew