Air fares going north after ban on A320 neo planes

LUCKNOW: Air fares have started going up after the ban on A320 neo aircraft due to technical snag. In wake of this, Indigo and Go Air have suspended around 65 flights and around six flights in Lucknow are affected daily, said M Shoaib of International Airfare Transport Association.

“Due to the sudden cancellation of these flights, the Lucknow-Delhi fare has crossed Rs 7,000 while Lucknow-Mumbai fare has gone above Rs 8,500. The earlier fares were around Rs 3,000 and Rs 3,600 respectively,” he said.

Aviation watchdog DGCA had on March 12 ordered IndiGo and GoAir to immediately ground 11 A320neo planes powered with a certain series of Pratt & Whitney engines after three incidents of mid-air engine failures in less than a month.

Concerns over the safety of such planes increased with another engine failure, forcing an emergency landing of an IndiGo flight at Ahmedabad airport on March 12, and the regulator cracked the whip saying that there is no concrete proposal in place at this stage to address the issue. “Out of the 11 aircraft that have been grounded, eight are operated by Indigo and three by GoAir. This has affected frequency of flights in a big way,” said Shoaib.

The worst affected is Indigo whose fleet of 153 aircraft comprises 32 A320 neo planes.

According to Sanjay Narain, OSD, Lucknow airport, the directives of DGCA are followed by all airlines so 4 to 5 flights are affected every day in Lucknow too.

AVIATION WATCHDOG DGCA ON MARCH 12 ORDERED INDIGO AND GOAIR TO GROUND 11 A320 NEO PLANES