ITP Aero has bolstered its commercial MRO footprint by joining the aftermarket network for Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan (GTF) engine program and is targeting its first engine induction at its facility in Madrid by early 2027.
At the Paris Air Show on June 17, the Bilbao-headquartered company announced it will start servicing Pratt & Whitney-manufactured PW1500G engines for Airbus A220-family aircraft and the PW1900G for Embraer E-Jets E2-family aircraft with MRO services and test capability from its shop in Ajalvir, located about 18 mi. northeast of the center of the Spanish capital. To date, most maintenance activity carried out there has focused mostly on noncommercial aerospace engines.
Alan Jones, executive vice president of ITP Aero’s MRO Business, said being part of the GTF network will bring a commitment for a certain volume of engine shop visits allocated by the manufacturer starting in early 2027. “This will then be ramped up quite considerably to a peak by 2033 to 120+ engines,” he said. ITP Aero envisages a mix of light, medium and heavy workscopes once induction begins in under two years’ time, but said it will focus on heavier workscopes to start with. “We’ll likely target heavier workscopes to begin with so we can use those engines to further improve our learnings about the program,” he said.
ITP will undertake full overhauls on the engines as well as back shop repairs on the components. The company has preexisting capability on the GTF, having been a risk and revenue sharing partner in the programs for several years and involved in some of the design, development and manufacturing of critical components, including manufacturing mid-turbine frame and integrally bladed rotors made of nickel for high-pressure compressor components.
Jones said given ITP’s capabilities in these areas, it will be able to bid for some more advanced repair work. “We’ll have the chance to bid for some of the network component repairs that are allocated to network partners,” he said. “It’s still a competitive space but given we have a strong manufacturing background and credibility with Pratt & Whitney, it certainly helps us substantiate our capability and gives the OEM a proof point of what we can do.”
In terms of capacity, Jones said it will look to make some adjustments at the MRO facility as it prepares to bring the GTF online in the first quarter of 2027. “We’ll utilize the existing MRO footprint we have in Ajalvir,” Jones said. “We have some investments we need to make in the factory itself and take a look at the layout and expanding certain areas, but we also have some capacity we can already use before expanding on that.”
In total, ITP Aero expects to invest around €100 million ($115 million) over the next four to five years, and this will begin in the second half of 2025. “This will mainly be on specialized equipment that comes with the GTF program, specialist tooling and duplicate equipment in our facility to add the right capacity and then work on our testbed strategy and build that out.”
The Ajalvir facility currently has several test cells, but ITP plans to upgrade and extend those while also building a designated test on-site solely for GTF engine testing. Another investment will be people, and the company expects to take on around 200 new workers while also undertaking retraining and capability building with its existing team.
ITP is the 21st shop in the engine OEM’s GTF aftermarket network and the eighth in Europe. It is comprised of Pratt & Whitney shops, joint ventures and partner MROs.
MRO currently accounts for around 10% of ITP Aero’s annual revenues, and the company hopes aftermarket activity will account for 20%-25% of total revenues over the next five years. Another key driver of this will be the expansion of its capabilities.
The former Rolls-Royce business is operating independently since being sold by the British engine manufacturer for €1.6 billion to a group of investors led by Bain Capital in a deal finalized in late 2022.
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