Engine manufacturers announced a series of product enhancements, as well as order at Farnborough.
Pratt & Whitney had plenty to shout about on the order front as its geared turbofan PurePower PW1200G powers Japan’s Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) – US regional carrier SkyWest ordered 100 of the type at Farnborough. Pratt now has 2,800 PurePower orders racked up, including options. Pratt’s PW4000-94 was chosen to power 767-300ER (plus one option) previously ordered by Air Astana..
GE and CFM also saw plenty of action. In Asia, Virgin Australia’s 23 Boeing 737Max 8s ordered just before the show kicked off will be powered by CFM Leap56-1B engines, while China’s Juneyao ordered five new CFM56-5B-powered A321s. EVA Airways (GE90-115B powered 777-300ERs) and Jets Airways (CF6-80E powered A330s) both signed long term maintenance agreements.
Rolls-Royce, meanwhile, is the beneficiary of Cathay Pacific’s order for 26 A350-100s, which will be powered by its Trent XWB engines. The engine manufacturer also confirmed that Garuda has selected the Trent 700 to power 11 A330s ordered earlier this year.
Rolls-Royce also unveiled the Trent 1000-TEN, an advanced version of its power plant incorporating technology from the latest member of the Trent engine family, the Trent XWB. The Trent 1000-TEN (Thrust, Efficiency and New technology) will provide an improvement of up to 3% in specific fuel consumption (SFC) compared with the Trent 1000s in service today.
Engine Alliance, meanwhile, announced improvements to the GP7200 that power the A380, with upgrades to engine clearances and sealing, introduce an improved turbine blade and offer a modest incremental weight reduction.
