Turkish Airlines to Ground Several Aircraft Due to Pratt & Whitney Jet Engines Recall

   By Mauro Orru 
 

Turkish Airlines expects to ground more than 10 planes by the end of the year after Pratt & Whitney parent RTX said it would recall hundreds of jet engines for inspection due to suspected contaminated metal in some parts that could lead to cracking.

Turk Hava Yollari, as the Turkish flag carrier is formally known, has 58 Airbus A320 and A321neo aircraft equipped with Pratt's geared-turbofan engines. The airline grounded nine such planes last month due to issues with the engines, according to a media relations representative.

"Our expectation is to ground 11-12 aircraft by the end of the year, but due to the uncertainties in the process, there is a possibility that this number will be revised upwards," the media relations representative said late Monday.

RTX, previously known as Raytheon Technologies, said in July that suspected contaminated metal in some engine parts would require accelerated inspections. An average of 350 Airbus jets will be grounded per year for the inspections of engines over the next three years.

Turkish Airlines counted 428 aircraft in its fleet at the end of August and, while the expected number of aircraft to be grounded appears small in proportion, the carrier has already seen a loss in passenger capacity due to the grounding of planes in August, the media relations representative said, though the group still expects capacity will grow 15% to 20% on year in 2023.

The airline flies to more than 340 destinations, and is among a rare few that still operate direct flights to Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.

"Our negotiations with the manufacturer on this issue continue. Since there are still unclear issues regarding the affected engines and maintenance plans, it seems possible that there will be changes in the quantities mentioned above in the coming period," the media relations representative said.

Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com; @MauroOrru94

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 26, 2023 02:13 ET (06:13 GMT)

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