Breaking: Wizz Air forced to suspend nearly quarter of its fleet
By the end of March, the Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air will have to ground around 45 of its A320neo family aircraft due to the overhaul of Pratt & Whitney GTF engines. Wizz plans to compensate for the lost capacity by extending the leases of older aircraft and renting new ones.
As AIRportal.hu reports, Wizz Air is forecasting that it will have to ground a total of 45 of its aircraft by the end of its financial year (until 31 March 2024), according to the latest service order issued by Pratt & Whitney on 3 November.
The final number of aircraft to be inspected may still change. However, it is expected that around a quarter of the 190-strong fleet will be grounded.
The engines involved in the second phase will be removed from the aircraft from mid-January 2024 and sent for inspection and repair to the manufacturer’s designated workshop.
To alleviate the capacity shortfall, the low-cost airline has prepared an action plan. It includes the renewal of several A320-200 and A321-200 aircraft leases from previous generations and the conclusion of agreements with the lessors in several cases, AIRporta.hu writes.
In addition, Wizz Air will increase the utilisation of its existing fleet. It also expects that new aircraft from Airbus arriving in this period will help to offset the shortfall.
Wizz Air has requested compensation from the manufacturer to mitigate the financial impact of the failure.
The carrier has already announced its summer schedule for 2024. Wizz Air plans to offer flights from Budapest and Debrecen to a total of 70 destinations. Read more about their summer schedule HERE.
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This is heading into the Law Courts.
The “other side” have much larger bank account than Wizz Air or the Hungarian Government.
It depends on what their contract says as to whether or not they are entitled to compensation. Even if there is a warranty, it probably excludes consequential damages, so at best the airline can expect to hav the engines repaired. Pratt and Whitney is not an insurance company. They will only warrant that the product will perform for its intended purpose for X number of years.