Trials of the first brand-new engine core for Pratt & Whitney's full-scale PurePower PW1000G geared turbofan will begin by the end of the year, following delivery of hardware to the testing facility in Canada.

The milestone marks a significant step towards building the first two complete engines to run for the first time next summer. A 17,000-pounds-thrust PurePower engine will power the Mitsubishi Regional Jet, and a 24,000-pounds-thrust engine the Bombardier CSeries of regional airliners.

P&W is confident that the geared fan engine will represent the industry's first real breakthrough in jet engine performance since the high bypass ratio turbofan. It expects the first PurePower geared fan engines to reduce fuel burn by around 15%, cut noise to half of today's levels by achieving Stage 4 minus 20 dB, and greatly reduce operating costs through savings in fuel, emissions penalties and maintenance, says Bob Saia, P&W vp for the next generation product family.

The company's ultimate goal is to power the next generation replacements for the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families, or to make a compelling case for offering interim, improved versions of those aircraft with 30,000 pounds-plus PurePower geared turbofans. The engines are also being offered for the new Chinese C919 and Russian MC-21 narrowbody airliners.

"We are actively talking to all the manufacturers," Saia said. Pratt & Whitney has spent 20 years developing the geared fan, and has successfully demonstrated its benefits in flight test on its 747 testbed and at Airbus on an A340. Those tests used an older technology engine core from a PW6000; the PurePower engine will have a new centerline engine to optimize performance with the geared fan.

"We have five engines in build to test next year," said Saia. A total of sixteen will be used as P&W develops the MRJ and CSeries engines in parallel. Both share common technology, with their cores scaled in size for their respective thrust range.