Chennai, May 6 : Shoot and scoot seems to be the communication policy being adopted by the two warring groups in the aviation sector - Indias Go Airlines (India) Ltd and the US aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney.

Incidentally, Pratt & Whitney India is headed by Ashmita Sethi, who was earlier the Vice President Communications and Public Affairs, South Asia, for Rolls Royce and Director, Communications and Corporate Affairs at Boeing as per her LinkedIn page.  In times of crisis, the principle to be followed is – communicate, communicate and communicate – is what communication gurus advocate.  But the two companies do not adhere to that and remain silent to questions from IANS and the media but resort to shoot and scoot strategy.  It was the Wadia group's Go Airlines which fired the first shot blaming Pratt & Whitney for its decision to file a voluntary petition for insolvency with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Delhi under Section 10 of the Insolvency Bankruptcy Code (IBC).  The airline said that it has approached the NCLT "due to the ever-increasing number of failing engines supplied by Pratt & Whitney's International Aero Engines, which has resulted in Go First (airline brand) having to ground 25 aircraft (equivalent to approximately 50 per cent of its Airbus A320neo aircraft fleet) as of May 1, 2023." 

"The percentage of grounded aircraft due to Pratt & Whitney's faulty engines has grown from 7 per cent in December 2019 to 31 per cent in December 2020 to 50 per cent in December 2022. This is despite Pratt & Whitney making several ongoing assurances over the years, which it has repeatedly failed to meet," Go Airlines said.  Go Airlines had said it has been forced to apply to the NCLT after Pratt & Whitney, the exclusive engine supplier for its Airbus A320neo aircraft fleet, refused to comply with an award issued by an emergency arbitrator appointed in accordance with the 2016 Arbitration Rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).  The airline's decision to apply for insolvency blaming the engine supplier has taken its lenders, creditors, staff and others entirely by surprise.  Perhaps, Go Airlines is the first airline to blame the engine maker for its financial woes.