By Chen Lin
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore Airlines low-cost subsidiary Scoot is considering extending the lease of some Airbus A320ceo aircraft due to problems with their Pratt & Whitney engines, Chief Executive Leslie Thng said.
“We have some flex in terms of the A320ceos that we are returning next year in 2024, so we are exploring whether we should maybe extend some of the leases to mitigate the impact,” Thng told reporters ahead of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines’ annual meeting, which starts on Thursday in Singapore.
As at end-September, Scoot said it has 20 A320ceo aircraft on its fleet. It was not immediately clear how many aircraft were leased and how many leases were being looked into.
Thng said four affected engines had led to two aircraft being grounded. The airline was aiming to fix one of these aircraft by the end of the month, he added.
Pratt & Whitney parent RTX said in July a rare powder metal defect could lead to the cracking of some engine components and called for accelerated inspections.
The checks are expected to lead to groundings of 600-700 of Airbus jets between 2023 and 2026, with two-thirds of the engine removals planned for 2023 and early 2024.
(Reporting by Chen Lin in Singapore; editing by Miral Fahmy)
