Go First Bankruptcy: Pratt & Whitney's Engine Problems Cost Airline 47 Years Worth Of Flying Time

Pratt & Whitney, which spent $10 billion to develop a new engine only to meet with delivery delays and multiple issues leading to mid-air shutdowns in the past, has disputed the claims

Pratt & Whitney’s (P&W’s) faulty engines that were supplied to Go First Airlines forced the budget carrier to keep its brand-new Airbus SE jets on the ground for 17,244 days since in the past three years, citing a legal filing in a Delaware court news agency Bloomberg reported.

According to the filing in the court dated April 28, “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.

P&W’s 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.

Go Airlines was re-branded Go First ahead of a planned Rs 36 billion ($440 million) initial share sale last year, which didn’t materialise. The NCLT’s Delhi bench is due to hear the airline’s insolvency petition on Thursday morning in India.

Pratt & Whitney, which spent $10 billion to develop a new engine only to meet with delivery delays and multiple issues leading to mid-air shutdowns in the past, has disputed the claims. The unit of Raytheon Technologies Corp. said the Go Air matter is subjudice, and it continues to prioritize delivery schedules for all customers.

While the enginemaker acknowledged it is bound to honour the arbitration award in an April 3 communication, it informed Go Air that no spare leased engines are available, according to the court filing. The engines due to be released from repair shops were committed to other customers before the arbitration award was announce, Pratt told Go Air, the filing showed.

On Tuesday, Wadia Group-owned Go First moved to the NCLT, Delhi, seeking voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings. The airline had filed the plea under section 10 of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC). It allows a debtor to initiate an insolvency resolution process against itself if it has committed any default.

Go First has become the second major scheduled airline, following Jet Airways, to file for resolution under insolvency proceedings.