Julian Moxon/PARIS
GENERAL ELECTRIC and Airbus Industrie have signed an exclusive agreement on power for the stretched A340-600, due to enter service early next century.
The deal foresees the development of a new or derived 226kN (51,000lb)-thrust engine for the 375-passenger, 13,000km (7,000nm)-range aircraft. GE says that it is studying options, which range from a development of the CF6, incorporating technology from the GE90 and other programmes, to a brand-new powerplant.
The announcement has taken many by surprise, since GE's CFM International partner, Snecma, had been advocating the new 191kN CFMXX as the likely engine for the stretch A340. The French company wanted to lead the programme with development of the all-important high-pressure section (it has been responsible for the low-pressure section in its 50:50 CFMI relationship). GE refused to agree to the request, effectively killing the CFMXX.
Further disagreement between GE and Snecma over pricing on the GE90, and between Snecma and Airbus over pricing of the CFM56-5 for the A340, have left the French manufacturer out in the cold.
Snecma president Bernard Dufour refuses to lower the price of Snecma-supplied CFM56s, making it difficult for Airbus to offer the aircraft against the Boeing 777, where a cut-throat competition between GE, Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney has forced down prices and helped Boeing to win several competitions. As a result, Snecma was recently accused of "killing the A340" by Airbus chief Jean Pierson.
Airbus has also gone further than expected in growing the A340, which will, if launched, now be stretched by as much as 20 frames, placing it in a new thrust category outside the 225.5kN upper limit agreed in the CFMI partnership. While this does not exclude Snecma from eventually joining the programme, GE has rejected the idea of French leadership.
Another surprise was, that the agreement was made with GE and not P&W, whose new Advanced Ducted Turboprop had been touted as the power plant for the stretch A340 (Flight International, 27 March-2 April).
GE, which had been Airbus' exclusive partner on the original A300, says that it has "the lowest costs in the industry", claiming that this means that it will be able to offer Airbus highly competitive pricing, despite the lack of engine competition on the A340-600.
It adds that an exclusive deal was "...the only way we were going to work on the -600". The cost of developing an engine for one application could be justified only if there were no competition, adds the company.
Other applications may appear, including a possible re-engined Boeing 757.
Source: Flight International
