Pratt and Whitney (P&W) intends to begin offering a package next year to equip in-service PW1100G geared turbofans (GTFs) with most of the durability improvements found in the company’s newly certified GTF Advantage.
The GTF Advantage is a new variant of the PW1100G, which powers Airbus A320neo-family jets.
The Advantage burns slightly less fuel and generates 4% more take-off thrust than the baseline engine, and is more durable, P&W has said without elaborating.
Earlier this year, the Federal Aviation Administration certificated the GTF Advantage, and P&W plans to begin delivering the powerplants to Airbus this year, it says.
The company is now working to certify a new package to install Advantage technologies into baseline PW1100Gs.
“We’re also certifying an upgrade package to incorporate roughly 90% to 95% of the GTF Advantage durability improvements into the existing fleet during MRO visits,” Chris Calio, chief executive of P&W parent RTX, said during RTX’s first-quarter earnings call on 22 April.
“We’re targeting next year to have this package available for customers,” Calio adds.
He specifies that GTF Advantages will come with “full-life” parts and says the powerplants will not require off-wing maintenance for nearly twice as long as baseline PW1100Gs, which have proven far less durable than P&W advertised.
The company is now working through a massive PW1100G recall, the result of engines possibly containing metallic components that could fail early due to being manufactured using contaminated powder metal.
The recall work can last up to one year per engine and involves inspections and installations of what P&W insists are “full life” parts.
Not everyone is convinced that even the replacement components will prove as durable as airlines might hope.
Jonathan Berger, managing director at Alton Aviation Consultancy, says the durability of the replacement components cannot be immediately known – the engines need to be flown for a few years before durability issues will crop up. Until then, Berger is disinclined to “give [Pratt] the benefit of the doubt”.
The recall’s disruption has been compounded by parts and labour shortages. Hundreds of GTF-powered jets have been grounded at any given time in recent months due to the recall. The grounded aircraft include Embraer E-Jet E2s, A220s and A320neo-family aircraft, and account for roughly one-third of the global GTF-powered fleet, Cirium data has shown.
RTX insists P&W is making progress, noting that the company’s PW1100G maintenance output jumped 35% year on year in the first quarter.
Also in the first quarter, P&W delivered 250 large commercial turbofans, up from 232 in the same period last year.
