Air Tanzania (ATCL) hopes to return one of its grounded A220-300s to service following the expected delivery before the month-end of a spare Pratt & Whitney PW1000 engine, says Chief Executive Officer Ladislaus Matindi.
He told The Citizen newspaper the airline was promised a spare engine following a meeting with Airbus. “We are currently making logistical arrangements with Airbus on how the spare engine will reach us,” he said. The existing engines were expected to be overhauled in Frankfurt Int’l, Germany, next month.
Airbus was not immediately reachable for comment.
Earlier this month, ATCL announced it was forced to temporarily cancel flights or reduce frequencies to address technical problems with the PW1524G-3 engines on its A220-300s.
According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module and Flightradar24 ADS-B data, at least three of ATCL’s A220-300s are currently effectively grounded. The only operational aircraft, 5H-TCI (msn 55048), last flew on November 21 between Mwanza and Dar es Salaam, while 5H-TCL (msn 55130) last flew on November 5 on the same route. 5H-TCH (msn 55047) has been in maintenance at Maastricht in The Netherlands since January 3, 2022, and 5H-TCM (msn 55135) has been in storage at Dar es Salaam since August 27, 2022.
Meanwhile, the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority Consumer Consultative Council (TCAA CCC) has urged airlines with technical or operational problems to consider leasing to normalise operations and avoid flight suspensions, cancellations, and delays. “We advise airlines to search for alternatives, including leasing, so that they can keep offering services in the aviation market that has been growing rapidly in the country,” TCAA CCC said in a statement.
Pratt & Whitney, in a statement to ch-aviation said a PW1500G full authority digital engine control (FADEC) software update could be accomplished on-wing and should not disrupt aircraft operations. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an Airworthiness Directive in October 2022 in this regard in line with a service bulletin issued by Pratt & Whitney in May 2022.
Source: ch-aviation
