Jet Airways to inspect four engines after global safety directives

The development assumes significance as it comes after the US and the European civil aviation authorities -- FAA and EASA -- mandated inspections of all fan blades of ‘CFM56-7B’ engines that has accumulated 30,000 flight cycles or more.

Airline major Jet Airways on Saturday said it has commenced the mandated engine inspection of four ‘CFM56-7B’ engines which power some of the Boeing 737 aircraft in its fleet.

The development assumes significance as it comes after the US and the European civil aviation authorities -- FAA and EASA -- mandated inspections of all fan blades of ‘CFM56-7B’ engines that has accumulated 30,000 flight cycles or more, under their latest ‘Emergency Airworthiness Directives’.

“Jet Airways has received the latest Emergency Airworthiness Directives from the FAA and EASA which mandate an inspection of all fan blades of any engine that has accumulated 30,000 flight cycles or greater,” a Jet Airways spokesperson said in a statement.

The airworthiness directives were issued after a ‘fan blade failure’ involving a similar category of engine was reported in a recent incident in the US.

“Jet Airways has commenced the required comprehensive checks to ensure full compliance of the directives within the stipulated period of 20 days. The airline has 4 engines that are impacted by the Directive with one already in scheduled maintenance,” the statement said.

“As the impact to Jet Airways is low, the inspections are not expected to cause any disruption to the airline’s published schedule and will be conducted well in advance of the stipulated timeline.”

Further, Jet Airways said that it is in close contact with both the aircraft and engine manufacturer as well as the airworthiness authorities in both the US and India to “ensure it is kept apprised of any further developments or initiatives that may be required or recommended”.

“The airline is committed to implement any maintenance inspections or other directives that may be published by either the FAA, EASA or the DGCA as a result of the investigation of the recent event,” the statement said.

Currently, Boeing 737s form the backbone of Jet Airways’ fleet and the airline operates 83 such aircraft with CFM56-7B engines.