Airlines brace themselves for GTF impact on schedules

Airlines across the world are expecting a significant impact on their operations next year from the latest service guidelines for Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan (GTF). P&W-parent RTX said on Monday in a trading update that 600-700 engines require incremental inspections

and repairs between now and 2026 because parts have been produced from contaminated powder metal. The engine maker expects on average 350 aircraft on ground in this timeframe, with a peak in the first half of 2024.

Wizz Air was the first airline to quantify the effects of the incremental shop visits of the PW1100G-JM engines on its Airbus A320neo’s and A321neo’s. “Wizz Air is currently assessing the implications to understand the extent of the impact on its fleet with initial estimates indicating a potential capacity reduction of ten percent for F24 H2,” it says in a statement. Wizz Air is currently in Q2 of FY24, so the second half-year starts in October and runs through March 2024.

Just days after RTX disclosed the powder metal contamination issue in late July, Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi said during the Q1 earnings on August 3 that it was difficult to quantify exactly what the impact would be. But as a matter of precaution, Wizz revised its capacity guidance for Q2 from +30 percent to +25 percent. The airline hoped to return to +30 percent capacity in HY2, but this has now been revised to -10 percent.