Kazakhstan’s Air Astana is irritated by the impact of unscheduled engine removals on its fleet during the peak season, which affected the differential between unit revenues and unit costs and more than halved net profit for the third quarter.

Air Astana says 14 of the 19 unscheduled removals so far this year occurred during the summer peak – adding that these were the result of Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engine issues “additional” to the powdered-metal contamination problem.

“The nature of these [issues] required engines to be removed earlier than under the scheduled removal plan,” it states.

This resulted in the grounding of up to 13 aircraft in the peak season, reducing the capacity that had been preserved for deployment.

Air Astana has been carrying out PW1100G engine swaps, part of a pro-active resting programme to maximise powerplant life and capacity during peak periods. Around 90 swaps have been conducted so far this year.

“While operationally intensive, this has successfully mitigated the impact of the powdered-metal issue,” it says.

The engine removals had an earnings impact of some $25 million during the third quarter, and the financial pressure was increased by a weaker Kazakh currency that affected the profitability of Air Astana’s affiliate carrier FlyArystan.

Net profit for the combined airline group more than halved to $20.6 million during the quarter, although the company stayed in net profit at the nine-month mark with a surplus of $31.2 million – down 40% on last year.

The company expects full-year unit costs to be “slightly ahead” of unit revenue growth, but adds that it “remains on course” to deliver growth this year, in line with medium-term guidance.

“While it is frustrating to encounter these issues during our peak season, we are agile operators with a track record of navigating external headwinds,” says Air Astana chief Peter Foster.

He says the company is engaged in “vigorous” discussions with Pratt & Whitney to address the problems.

Air Astana points out that the engine manufacturer has been delivering new powerplants, unaffected by powdered metal, for the past 21 months. But the backlog of remedial work, the carrier adds, is likely to persist through to 2028.