Pratt & Whitney look to gain from UDAN scheme

NEW DELHI: Aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney sees an "opportunity" in the Indian government’s regional connectivity scheme, UDAN, which aims at making air travel affordable for the common man.
"The UDAN scheme can be made successful with smaller aircraft and Prat & Whitney has wonderful engines to support that," Palas Roy Chowdhury, India managing director for US-headquartered Pratt & Whitney, told ET. "We see a huge opportunity in this space too."

Under UDAN (acronym for ‘ude desh ka aam nagrik’), the government plans to offer flights to unserved and underserved parts of the country at a subsidised fare of Rs 2,500 for per hour of flight. Chowdhury said, "In the regional connectivity space, aircraft like ATR or Q400 are powered by our engines. Not just that, next generation Embraer, Mitsubhi regional jets and Bombardiers are exclusively powered by our engines."

To implement the UDAN scheme, the government has announced a new category of airlines, called schedule commuter airlines (SCA). In their first year of operation, airlines registered under this category will be allowed to operate even if they have just one aircraft.

Pratt & Whitney, which was in the news for problems in their new engine that is fitted in Airbus 320 Neos (new engine options), said the issue has been resolved and the deliveries are scheduled to happen. "The problems with the engines were the initial ones. There are no complaints with the engines and our customers are satisfied with it. The Neo engines, which run on geared turbofan (GTF) technology, has already done 15,000 flights across the globe," he said.

The company has an order pipeline of 500 aircraft engines. It has already delivered about 30 engines in India – 24 to IndiGo and six to GoAir.

IndiGo, which was supposed to receive an A320 Neo in December last year, had to push back its fleet induction plan as the aircraft arrived only in March this year. The main glitch was in the geared turbofan Pratt & Whitney engines on Airbus 320 Neos, which took some time to cool before a restart. The cool-down issue, according to IndiGo, slowed the engine start process, impacting its ability to turn the aircraft around quickly, an essential part of their low-cost business model.