(Recasts, adds details of incident, industry background,
changes dateline previously PARIS/VIENNA)
By Tim Hepher and John Revill
PARIS/ZURICH, Oct 15 (Reuters) - U.S. engine maker Pratt &
Whitney faces new checks on engines for small jetliners after an
engine failure forced a Geneva-bound Swiss jet to divert to
Paris and prompted a brief grounding of the rest of the
airline's Airbus A220 fleet.
French air crash investigators classified the problem that
disrupted the Swiss flight shortly after departure from London
Heathrow on Tuesday as a "serious incident" and said it would be
investigated by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
It was the third engine incident involving the same airline
and model of jet in as many months and resulted in a small
amount of debris being scattered as the aircraft landed at Paris
Charles de Gaulle, an airport source told Reuters.
It came just hours after France's BEA agency launched an
unusual appeal for 150 volunteers to scour an uninhabited wood
in eastern France for a titanium engine part dating from the
first blowout in July, which affected a Geneva-London flight.
A second incident in September caused a Swiss A220 to divert
to Geneva, but on that occasion the engine's housing contained
fragments torn loose from the engine, the BEA said.
Swiss, owned by Germany's Lufthansa, said after
Tuesday's incident it had initially grounded its fleet of Airbus
A220 jets for a "comprehensive inspection" of their
engines.
Late on Tuesday, it said the first aircraft had already
returned to service but that the inspections had forced it to
cancel 100 flights, affecting 10,000 passengers.
Operations are expected to return to normal from Thursday.
ADDITIONAL CHECKS
Tuesday's incident highlighted scrutiny of the performance
of new-generation Geared Turbofan engines developed by Pratt &
Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp.
A spokesman for the engine maker said it was recommending
additional checks for versions of the engine that power the
Airbus A220 - an engine known as the PW1500G - and a rival
Brazilian jet, the Embraer 190/195-E2.
A similar engine for the larger A320neo family, Airbus'
most-sold aircraft, was not affected.
"Pratt & Whitney and our airframe OEMs (manufacturers),
working in coordination with the regulatory authorities, have
recommended additional inspections of the low-pressure
compressor for PW1500G and PW1900G engines to keep the fleet
operational," a spokesman said.
"The engines continue to meet all criteria for continued
airworthiness. We are working closely with our customers to
minimise disruption to their operations."
Prompted by the earlier incidents in July and September, the
U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ordered inspections on the
same engine part in A220s and some Embraer jets in September.
On Tuesday, Delta Air Lines said its A220 jets were
flying as normal.
Air Baltic, which also flies the A220, said it was closely
following Pratt's latest recommendations but that it used a
different version of the PW1500G engine from Swiss.
Airbus said it was working with Pratt & Whitney
and would co-operate with any investigation.
A total of 90 of the 110-130-seat A220 aircraft have been
delivered, initially by Canada's Bombardier which
designed the carbon-fibre jet, and later by Airbus, which bought
the loss-making programme last year.
In Brazil, Embraer had no immediate comment.
The company uses Pratt's PW1900G engine in larger versions
of its upgraded 80-120-seat E2 jets.
It has delivered six E190-E2 planes split between Norwegian
carrier Wideroe and lessor Aercap, and one E195-E2,
which is not yet in commercial service but has been delivered to
Brazilian airline Azul SA.
Azul said its operations were not affected.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris, Tracy Rucinski in Chicago,
John Revill in Zurich, Michael Shields in Vienna, Marcelo
Rochabrun in Sao Paulo, Allison Lampert in Montreal, Laurence
Frost in Paris
Editing by Jane Merriman and Matthew Lewis)