The ongoing issues with Pratt & Whitney’s GTF engine have taken a turn for the worse as the Iraq Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) has grounded all Iraqi Airways’ Airbus A220s. In a notice shared with Simple Flying, the ICAA said,

From Civil Aviation Authority. Department of Safety.

To: Iraqi Airways Company / the Office of the General Manager

In reference to the operator of the two aircraft (A220-300) with the registration (YI-ARI) and (YI-ARG) operating within your company’s fleet.

We ask you to completely (and immediately) stop the operations on all your A220-300 until further notice and until the investigation procedures are completed. Please inform us of your procedures as soon as possible.

Iraqi Airways operates four Airbus A220s, all the larger -300 variant. All are under two years old, with the first delivered in November 2021. The youngest, YI-ARI, was delivered just this January, and is one of the two aircraft mentioned by the ICAA in its communication.

Simple Flying received some photographs allegedly of the engines of one of these aircraft. From the photos, it appears the fan casing has begun to deteriorate, although we cannot, at this point, verify the authenticity of the images.

Airbus told Simple Flying it is aware of the issues and is working with the airline to minimize disruption. The planemaker said,

We are aware of the Iraqi fleet situation. We are in contact with our customer and Pratt & Whitney. Together with the engine manufacturer, we are supporting our customer to minimize disruption to their operations.

Pratt & Whitney added,

Pratt & Whitney is aware of the situation, and we are supporting our customer as required.

Flight tracking data show no Iraqi Airways A220s have flown since May 3rd.

GTF problems abound

The issue with the supply chain affecting GTF planned maintenance has been well reported, with carriers such as airBaltic being forced to lease in additional capacity while it waits for its engines to return. However, the secondary problem seems to be impacting airlines operating in hot, humid and dusty conditions.

The recent bankruptcy of India’s Go First was attributed to problems with the GTF on its A320neo family aircraft. The airline told FlightGlobal that it had replaced 510 PW1100G engines in recent years, and just last month had 64 ‘defective’ engine incidents. The airline has taken the matter to court; a statement in the filing said,

“There have been numerous, persistent, and continuing technical issues with the defective GTF Engines supplied by Pratt.”

The Indian Times reported that Go First was getting, on average, 7,000 hours of flying time out of each GTF engine, while its projected life is marketed at 12,000 hours. According to reporting by Bloomberg, the carrier was forced to keep brand-new A320neo jets on the ground for a total of 17,244 days over the past three years - the equivalent of 47 years.

No option for the A220

While operators of the A320neo family can choose between the P&W GTF and the alternative product from CFM, operators of the A220 are only able to use the PW1500G. Iraqi Airways may be the latest victim, but other operators, particularly those flying in humid and dusty environments, are also suffering.

According to reporting by Airspace Africa, both Air Tanzania and Air Senegal are grappling with engine failures on their A220s. Air Tanzania boss Ladislaus Matindi reportedly said that, despite the A220 engine being designed for 5,260 landings, the airline was having to remove powerplants before even 1,000 landings were reached due to design flaws.

EgyptAir currently has seven of its 12 A220s grounded due to engine issues, while Air Senegal’s single A220 is also parked.

Elsewhere, operators not experiencing engine faults are waiting longer than usual for powerplants to return from planned maintenance visits. Just today, it has been reported that Lufthansa Group airline SWISS has grounded a third of its A220 fleet in Zurich pending engine repairs.

For Pratt, the unclogging of the supply chain can’t come soon enough.

Sources: FlightGlobal, Bloomberg, Airspace Africa, India Times