ITA Airways weighs lawsuit over Pratt & Whitney engine failures

Engine failures have grounded nearly one-fifth of ITA Airways’ 80-aircraft fleet, cutting into route coverage, aircraft utilization and passenger service while leaving the airline with an estimated €150 million financial hit. The Italian carrier has been forced to manage fewer planes across a network that is already under pressure from heavy leasing costs and tight maintenance capacity.

Joerg Eberhart, ITA’s chief executive, said the airline would decide within six to eight weeks whether to sue Pratt & Whitney, the RTX subsidiary behind the engines. He said ITA was still in talks with the manufacturer, but the proposals on the table had not yet covered the damage. “It’s imminent,” Eberhart said, underscoring how quickly the dispute could move from negotiation to litigation.

The issue lands at a sensitive moment for ITA. The airline said it ended 2025 with 106 aircraft, of which 70% were new-generation jets, but it also reported more than 123,000 scheduled flights last year, down 11% from 2024, and 16.2 million passengers, down 8%. ITA posted a €209 million net profit for 2025, its first annual profit since inception, yet it said high leasing charges and engine-related aircraft unavailability left the operating result not yet fully sustainable.

The company’s frustration reflects a wider industry problem. The International Air Transport Association said civil aviation authorities including the FAA and EASA ordered immediate inspections after RTX disclosed a rare condition in the powder metal used for certain geared turbofan components. IATA said about 637 of 1,334 Pratt & Whitney GTF-powered aircraft were grounded awaiting inspection, with inspection times stretched from 60 days to more than 300 days and roughly 1,200 engines thought to be affected.

That bottleneck has become a cost problem as much as a technical one. IATA said supply-chain problems would cost airlines more than $11 billion in 2025, including $2.6 billion in excess engine-leasing costs, even as aircraft deliveries fell to 1,254 in 2024 and the global backlog reached a record 17,000 jets. For airlines trying to rebuild schedules, the shortage of spare aircraft has turned engine reliability into a direct drain on capacity and margins.

For ITA, a lawsuit would be about more than compensation for lost aircraft days. It would test who pays when a manufacturing defect ripples through an airline’s fleet, disrupts network planning and squeezes margins across the global Airbus A320neo family. A settlement could still shape future negotiations, but the pressure on engine makers is now visible in Rome and beyond.