The Centre will issue new safety protocols for airlines operating Airbus A320neo aircraft fitted with Pratt & Whitney engines.

A three-hour marathon meeting was held between the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and officials of the civil aviation ministry (MoCA), IndiGo, Go Air and aerospace company Pratt & Whitney, on Tuesday in New Delhi to review the situation of airbus A320neo engines.

This comes in the aftermath of temporary grounding orders affecting the planes last year and safety-related incidents with Airbus A320 Neo aircraft, powered by P&W. IndiGo and GoAir had been forced to ground A320neo aircraft on several occasions in the past, due to issues related to their engines.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) would issue these norms in consultation with US-based Federal Aviation Authority, which is the regulator that has approved these engines, civil aviation secretary R N Choubey said. But he said his ministry had no plans to tell IndiGo, India’s biggest carrier by market share, and GoAir to take A320neos jets out of service or stop taking new deliveries.

Meanwhile, there would be extensive checks on the aircraft with neo engines. Earlier, the checks were made every 1500 hours of flight time; now it stands at every 1000 hours.

Officials of the MoCA added that the engine snag issues in India were lower compared to the worldwide statistics.