Pratt & Whitney signed a deal with Russia’s Irkut Corp. to design a commercial airliner around the East Hartford jet-engine maker’s next generation fuel-efficient engine.
Pratt’s PurePower PW1000G turbofan would propel Irkut’s planned MC-21 mid-range airliner. The 150- to 210-passenger plane would make its first flight in 2014 and enter service two years later.
Pratt announced Tuesday assembly of the first high-speed, low-pressure turbine in Munich, Germany, with partner MTU Aero Engines in preparation for full testing of the PW1000G beginning this summer.
Terms of the development agreement were not disclosed.
This would be the third airframe to bear the PW1000G. In February, Pratt agreed to deliver as many as 80 PurePower engines for the twin-engine commercial aircraft from regional carrier Republic Airways has ordered from Canada’s Bombardier.
The engine also is set to power Japan’s planned Mitsubishi mid-range passenger jet, beginning in 2014, and airliners for Germany’s Lufthansa.
