Pratt engine woes grounded Go First planes for 17,000 days

Faults with engines supplied by Pratt & Whitney to Go Airlines India Ltd forced the budget carrier to keep part of its fleet of brand-new Airbus SE jets on the ground for a total of 17,244 days over the past three years, according to a legal filing in a Delaware court.

"There have been numerous, persistent, and continuing technical issues with the defective GTF Engines supplied by Pratt," the carrier, which sought insolvency protection this week, said in a filing dated April 28. Pratt has failed to comply with an arbitration order in Singapore that mandated it to supply spare engines and parts to the airline, leading to "a significant risk that Go First will go out of business and be forced to declare bankruptcy," according to the filing.