Aircraft being parked up are coming in thick and fast. For example, air New Zealand recently grounded two Airbus A321neos due to Pratt and Whitney’s supply chain shortages. Meanwhile, Rex, a regional operator in Australia, announced it’d reduce flights following labour and supply chain issues.
Now, Sri Lankan Airlines will ground five of its A320neos. The decision to ground the aircraft comes following similar to Air New Zealand a significant global shortage of engines.
Interestingly enough, SriLankan Airlines has 6 A320neos currently on its books. That means it is grounding all but one aircraft from this series. It highlights how the global engine shortage impacts carriers differently depending on the circumstances.
For Air New Zealand, they said they managed the situation to the best of their abilities and, therefore, only needed to park two aircraft. Whereas, for SriLankan, it is essentially the worst-case scenario.
For SriLankan they’re struggling with supply chains. While communication is ongoing, an expected timeframe for the return to service isn’t completely clear.
[…] SriLankan Airlines is grounding give of its A320neos as it found they didn’t operate efficiently without engines. […]