Pratt Whitney said in a brief statement that DGCA's directive mandates some specific actions.Air safety watchdog on Thursday directed airlines to make extra checks on their Airbus A320neo aircraft fitted with Pratt Whitney engines as part of new safety protocols after temporary grounding orders affected planes last year.IndiGo, country's biggest carrier by market share, and its low-cost rival GoAir, which fly A320 neos in country, were forced to ground aircraft on several occasions due to issues related to engines.The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered that airlines must inspect some parts of 1100 series engines weekly and train cabin and cockpit crew to deal with and report any kind of odour, burning smell or smoke."Log all cases detecting odours/smoke in cabin during operation for necessary investigation and rectification," DGCA said in its notification, adding that in all such cases engine would need to be inspected in detail and used only after defect is resolved.Pratt Whitney said in a brief statement that DGCA's directive mandates some specific actions and that engine maker would fully support Indian carriers.IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation, and GoAir did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of office hours.
Airbus was not immediately reachable.The new rules, effective immediately, were issued days after a meeting between civil aviation ministry, regulator, two airlines, aircraft manufacturer Airbus and engine maker Pratt Whitney, owned by United Technologies to discuss issues with engines."During (the) meeting, it was decided to issue directive in addition to existing measures related to combustion chambers and No.
3 bearing issues for identifying and correcting impending failures of dry face seal," DGCA said.The notification also said there would be restrictions imposed on operation of A320neo flights to Port Blair - capital of India's Andaman and Nicobar islands.It was not immediately clear whether regulator planned to restrict all A320neo flights to island or only place restrictions on a specific series of engines that have been found to have issues.Grounded aircraft at airport further limits its capacity, paper added, citing an unnamed official.