Pratt & Whitney President Robert Leduc hit back at critics of Pratt’s geared turbofan engine, rattling off statistics he said show that its detractors are wrong.
Pratt’s newest engine, also known as the GTF, has proved that it is capable of providing airline customers “the lowest costs with the longest time on wing” between servicing, Leduc said.
Pratt made 3,200 engines in 2015, he said, and that’s expected to reach 5,600 engines by 2020, he said.
“I’m not going to debate our customers,” Leduc said, in an indirect reference to Qatar Airways’ decision to cancel delivery of its first Pratt-powered Airbus A320neo over delays related to engine issues. An overheating problem caused delays between flights to allow for longer-than-usual cooling periods.
Those issues have been resolved, Pratt officials have said. New engines have been fitted with updated software eliminating what they called a minor “teething” problem.
In overall testing and initial service, the GTF has achieved a 99.75 percent reliability rate, Leduc said. That’s surpassed only by Pratt’s PW4000 engine when it entered service on the Boeing 777 in the 1990s with an initial 100 percent reliability rate, he said.
“Pratt is back — and in a big way,” Leduc said in an update for reporters and aerospace analysts at the Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field, adjacent to Pratt’s headquarters.
Pratt has been using its quieter, more fuel-efficient GTF engines to regain market share on the commercial side of the business after miscalculating in the 1990s that the Boeing 737 held little promise. Pratt decided not to make an engine for the 737, opting instead to develop engines for bigger jets such as the Boeing 777.
The 737 went on to become one of the best-selling commercial aircraft in aerospace history and was a bonanza for Pratt rival General Electric, which partnered with Snecma of France to build its engines.
Pratt’s GTF engines, however, have been helping it to make major gains in commercial business, as newer aircraft, such as the Airbus A320neo, are being introduced to replace the aging 737.
Russia’s Irkut Corp. today showcased its new MC-21 short- and medium-range passenger plane with Pratt’s PW1400G-JM geared turbofan engines. The planes will compete against the Airbus A320, among others, and are to enter service by 2018.
In a report from Tass, Russia’s state-run news agency, Irkut said it has received 285 orders for the MC-21 aircraft, including 175 firm orders and 110 options. If all 285 orders are filled, Pratt would supply more than 570 engines bringing in billions of dollars.
When combined with orders for military engines to power the Pentagon’s new, exclusively Pratt-powered F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and KC-46A refueling tanker planes, Pratt expects to have 100,000 engines in service by 2020, Leduc said.
That’s an achievement the company hasn’t seen since Pratt’s early years when it produced the then-groundbreaking Wasp propeller engine, he said.
