Pratt & Whitney news in brief

Pratt & Whitney Canada advances hybrid-electric technology: Pratt & Whitney Canada announced plans to advance its hybrid-electric propulsion technology and flight demonstrator program as part of a C$163 million investment, supported by the governments of Canada and Quebec. “Pratt & Whitney Canada is proud to be a leader toward ever more sustainable aircraft propulsion technologies and be an integral part of Canada’s green recovery plan,” said Maria Della Posta, president, Pratt & Whitney Canada. “With a long-time commitment to sustainability and as Canada’s top aerospace investor in research & development, having invested C$500 million annually, we are driving economic growth, innovation and workforce expertise to benefit the environment. Hybrid-electric technology has an important role to play in enabling the next step-change in efficiency for aircraft engines, and we are uniquely positioned to demonstrate this potential.” The new hybrid-electric propulsion technology will drive significant improvements in aircraft efficiency by optimizing performance across the different phases of flight, allowing the demonstrator to target a 30 percent reduction in fuel burn and CO2 emissions, compared to a modern regional turboprop airliner. P&WC is working with De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited (De Havilland Canada) to integrate this hybrid-electric technology into a De Havilland Canada Dash 8-100 flight demonstrator. This demonstrator will include an advanced electric motor and controller from Collins Aerospace, also a Raytheon Technologies business. Pratt & Whitney’s West Palm Beach engine centre now MRO shop: Pratt & Whitney has completed the transformation of its West Palm Beach Engine Centre into a fully-capable GTF MRO shop. “This is more than just a shop; this is an investment in the future of our company to be even more customer-focused and customer-driven,” said Mary Anne Cannon, vice president, West Palm Beach Site Development and Operations, Pratt & Whitney. “All of the equipment and systems were designed with adaptability in mind. We took what we learned when we were an OEM shop and made refinements to ensure cost savings, efficiency, reduced turn times as well as capability and EH&S improvements along the way.” The engine centre is the first Pratt & Whitney MRO facility to adopt an automated system that assembles the high pressure compressor rotor assembly with minimal variation and higher yield, resulting in streamlined turn times and improved reliability of outputs. The facility also features a refined overhead engine handling system, resulting in more efficient, cost-effective processes with improvements to safety and ergonomics. Pratt & Whitney says GTF engines save fuel: Pratt & Whitney announced that its GTF engines have now saved operators more than half a billion gallons (close to two billion litres) of fuel and avoided more than five million metric tonnes of carbon emissions, accumulated over more than 2.5 million flights. The engines power more than 1,000 aircraft across three aircraft families – Airbus A320neo, Airbus A220 and Embraer E-Jets E2 – and have accumulated nearly 10 million engine flight hours with 54 airlines carrying over 370 million passengers. “The GTF engine family has proven to be the most environmentally sustainable powerplant for the current generation of single-aisle aircraft,” said Geoff Hunt, senior vice president of engineering and technology at Pratt & Whitney. “At Pratt & Whitney, we’re working towards becoming the best aerospace company for the world and with the revolutionary GTF engine family, we’re just getting started.” Pratt & Whitney selects East Hartford campus for ‘Office of the Future: Pratt & Whitney announced plans to make technology and design upgrades to its East Hartford campus in order to improve flexibility for local employees. These improvements will allow office employees greater opportunity to work remotely, while also providing collaboration space so they can return to the office as requirements demand. The company is responding to employee requests for flexibility in how and where work is performed, and Pratt & Whitney has committed to allowing the majority of office employees to perform their work remotely at least part of the time. This hybrid model will give many employees the ability to work from home in the local area when desired, but with the ability to return to a physical Pratt & Whitney facility when needed.  When on site, employees will have access to collaboration spaces, meeting rooms and the flexibility to work from any open workspace, without being limited to an assigned building. Manufacturing employees and others with a critical need to be in an office will continue to work from the campus. “Like every organisation, we had to rapidly adjust to a new normal,” said Chris Calio, president of Pratt & Whitney. “For our office-based employees, the transition to remote work in March 2020 was disruptive. But it caused us to redesign how we get work done, allowing our employees the greatest flexibility while preserving collaboration – and we’re now carrying those benefits into the future.” Pratt & Whitney opens composites facility: Pratt & Whitney announced the opening of a ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) engineering & development facility in Carlsbad, California. The new 60,000 square-foot facility is an integrated engineering, development and low-rate production facility solely dedicated to CMCs for aerospace applications. Ceramic matrix composites are a class of material made of ceramic fibres embedded within a ceramic matrix. CMC materials are lightweight and can be used to manufacture engine parts that are one-third the weight of traditional metallic parts. The temperature capability of CMC parts is several hundred degrees higher than state-of-the-art superalloy parts. This translates into a significant improvement in fuel efficiency as well as weight savings, with the added benefit of reduced emissions and carbon footprint. Pratt & Whitney surpasses 800 GTF engine orders in 2021: Pratt & Whitney announced the company has booked more than 800 orders and commitments for GTF engines since the beginning of 2021. Customers that have selected GTF-powered aircraft include Frontier Airlines, Volaris, Air France, Delta Air Lines, and, most recently, AerCap. “GTF-powered aircraft are helping to lead the recovery around the world, while delivering unmatched fuel efficiency and world-class reliability to our customers,” said Rick Deurloo, chief commercial officer and senior vice president at Pratt & Whitney. “We’re the only engine maker with a geared fan in service today, and we’re also leading the industry with the lowest carbon emissions for single-aisle aircraft. We’re pleased with our orders to date and look forward to continuing this momentum throughout the year.” AerCap, the global leader in aircraft leasing, is the world’s largest A320neo family lessor with over 300 owned, managed and on-order aircraft. AerCap recently selected Pratt & Whitney GTF™ engines to power 80 additional Airbus A320neo and A321neo model aircraft. Deliveries of these aircraft are currently scheduled between 2021 and 2027. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Matt Driskill at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Head of Sales Kay Rolland at [email protected]