New Delhi, March 12:  In wake of few occurrences  of aborted take off and in-flight shut down (IFSD) on A320 neo fleet in the past few weeks, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered immediate grounding of 11 Airbus A-320 New engine option (Neo) aircraft that are fitted with a faulty type of Pratt & Whitney (PW) engines.

Keeping in mind the safety of aircraft operations, A320nes fitted with PW1100 engines beyond ESN 450 have been grounded with immediate effect by DGCA. Indigo and Go Air have been asked by the regulator not to refit these engines (PW1100 engines beyond serial number 450) which are spare with them in their inventory.

The moves comes hours after of engine failure was reported on an A-320 Neo when an IndiGo aircraft took off from Ahmedabad for Lucknow on Monday. The aircraft then had to return to make an emergency landing in Ahmedabad.

According to reports, eight aircraft operated by India's biggest low-cost carrier- IndiGo that is owned by InterGlobe Aviation while three aircrafts are operated by its rival GoAir. On February 9, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had issued an emergency airworthiness directive + for A-320 Neos fitted with PW1100 engines (from serial number 450 and beyond) due to some occurrences of aborted take-off and in-flight shut down (IFSD) of these engines.

The DGCA official said since then, there have been three cases of the in-flight shutdown of A-320 Neos fitted with one affected PW1100 engine. These included GoAir A-320 Neo (VT-WGB) after take-off from Leh on February 24; IndiGo A-320 Neo (VT-ITJ) after take-off from Mumbai on March 5 and IndiGo A-320 Neo (VT-ITA) after take-off from Ahmedabad on March 12.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 12, 2018 05:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).