Summary
- Spirit Airlines CEO expressed his disappointment over the grounding of aircraft as a result of engine inspections, which is able to reduce capability and negatively impact revenues.
- Pratt & Whitney’s PW1100G engines are subject to inspections for microscopic cracks and contamination.
- Nearly 80 A320neos in Spirit’s all-Airbus fleet are powered by the Pratt & Whitney-produced engines.
The CEO of ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) Spirit Airlines is speaking out regarding the impact the airline will experience from grounding aircraft as a result of engine inspections. The airline expects to remove seven Airbus A320neo aircraft from service next month, in compliance with engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney’s recall in late July.
Spirit is reportedly the biggest US operator of the favored PW1100G engines, also called GTF (geared turbofan) engines. The engine recall has also impacted other airlines worldwide.
Reducing capability
The carrier’s CEO, Ted Christie, expressed disappointment during a quarterly results presentation last week, based on ch-aviation.
the airline’s executive claimed. The groundings will reportedly reduce Spirit’s capability by 5% next month, negatively affecting its third-quarter revenues by around 1.5%.
Photo: Spirit Airlines
The ULCC’s all-Airbus fleet comprises greater than 200 aircraft. Nearly 80 are A320neos which might be all powered by the GTF engines. Nevertheless, not every engine was developed at the identical time, meaning some should not subject to inspections. When Pratt & Whitney issued the recall last month, the corporate specified that engines manufactured between late 2015 and mid-2021 needed to be returned and checked for alleged microscopic cracks.
In line with ch-aviation, the manufacturer also warned that minute amounts of contamination were present within the metal utilized in the engine’s high-pressure turbine discs, advising airlines of Pratt & Whitney ordered an accelerated fleet inspection, but with the problem paired with the microcracks, the method could reportedly take as much as 60 days per aircraft to be thoroughly checked and returned to service.
Additional problems
To place more stress on the airline, the aircraft that might be grounded are along with existing aircraft which have reportedly been taken out of service as a result of different issues which have impacted the engines. In line with ch-aviation, Spirit has seven A320neos grounded currently as a result of separate problems regarding combustors and turbine blades. In 2024, the carrier anticipates as many as 10 jets out of service for these reasons.
Photo: Airbus
Despite the 60-day inspection estimate, Christie previously indicated that the Spirit expects its affected aircraft might be out of service through the rest of the 12 months. The CEO also said Pratt & Whitney must have more information in September in regards to the matter, including the timeframe of aircraft out of service.
Although Christie has yet to confer with the manufacturer about promised compensation, he looked as if it would remain confident that the corporate will sort out the problem in due time, based on an announcement obtained by ch-aviation.
“We have now a long-standing partnership with them. They’re an establishment within the US. They’ve at all times stood by their customers and honoured their commitments, so we’ve no reason to doubt that this time.”
Other airlines coping with the problem
Greater than 1,500 A320neos are energetic worldwide, but only around 600 are powered by Pratt & Whitney, based on ch-aviation. The remaining aircraft are equipped with CFM International LEAP engines, which do not need any reported issues.
Spirit, nevertheless, will not be the one airline affected by the engine recall. Easy Flying previously reported Air Recent Zealand and Wizz Air being impacted. ULCC competitor Frontier Airlines, which can also be a big operator of A320neo family aircraft, will not be affected because the airline uses CFM’s LEAP engines to power the planes.