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Wizz Air CFO expects engine failures to end by 2027

Wizz Air aims at ending engine-related groundings for its Airbus aircraft before the end of 2027. However, a senior executive stated on Tuesday that he has not seen an improvement in Pratt & Whitney's bottlenecks which are blamed for the blocking of dozens of jets.

Ian Malin, CFO of Wizz Airlines, said that the number of aircraft grounded due to long inspection waiting times has dropped from 60 at its peak. Wizz reported that 41 aircraft were grounded at the halfway point of the year due to GTF engine inspections.

The plan is to have the fleet deparked by 2027. We are working toward that target," he said at the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading conference (ISTAT) in Prague.

He said, "That'll be challenging. Especially when we have 38 aircraft on the ground."

Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varradi told Bloomberg that he wanted to change the fortunes of Wizz Air by mid-2027.

Wizz, a Hungarian airline, has been struggling to compete with other European carriers financially in the last few years due to engine problems. It has been unable to increase its capacity due to the groundings and issued two profit warnings.

"Pratt actually shows some availability of engines but the overall turn-around time is not improving...Pratt said that this is coming down. Malin replied, "I haven't yet seen it."

He added, "It's extremely frustrating because we have been dealing with this for two and a half years."

RTX, the parent company of Pratt & Whitney, did not respond immediately to a comment request.

Chris Calio, CEO of the U.S. Aerospace Group, said that in September, cases of aircraft being grounded due to Pratt engine failures have stabilized and are expected decrease, but "clearly, we have more to do."

(source: Reuters)