On the Record with BRUCE HUGHES, PRESIDENT, ENGINE ALLIANCE-A JOINT COMPANY OF GE
AIRCRAFT ENGINES AND PRATT & WHITNEY
Two years ago the champagne corks were popping here as the GE-Pratt
& Whitney Engine Alliance celebrated a major victory with Air
France as launch customer for the GP7200 on the giant Airbus A380.
The French airline chose the GP7200 engine to power ten Airbus
A380-800s for delivery from the fourth quarter 2006. The value of
the order, including options and spare engines, is nearly $900 million.
Corks popped again at Asian Aerospace in Singapore last year as
Emirates announced it wouldn't after all have an all-Rolls-Royce
fleet and chose the GP7200 over the Trent 900 for its 22 A380s.
Then, last July, FedEx ordered 10 A380Fs with options on 10 more,
all with engines from the Alliance.
Bruce Hughes has a few bottles in his refrigerator here at Paris,
just in case. "There might be an announcement here at Le Bourget,"
he told Show News (Emirates is widely expected to order more A380s).
If so, the GP7200 will increase its tally of 200 engines (including
spares) for 42 firm A380s, which represents around one half of the
engines announced as firm orders to date for the 103 A380 commitments.
While SARS and the airline crisis have slowed the marketing side,
engine development is proceeding apace. "We are on the last
stretch of technology maturation, with a goal of the end of August,"
Hughes said.
The GP7200 core, which is a 72% flow scaled version of the GE90-115B,
will complete full-scale testing in August. "We are tweaking
it, looking for more one-tenths in efficiency," said Hughes.
The MTU-designed low-pressure turbine has completed testing in
a preliminary five-stage design and will be run with six stages
in August.
A 108-inch (275-cm) diameter fan is currently running on a modified
Pratt & Whitney PW4098 at Pratt & Whitney's test facilities
in West Palm Beach, Florida. Testing will run through August to
establish aerodynamic, structural, performance and noise data. These
tests will help refine the final design of the GP7200 fan that will
have a 116-inch (295-cm) diameter.
The first complete engine will begin testing next February, followed
by flight testing in September on GE's Boeing 747 testbed, and certification
in July 2005 at 81,500 pounds thrust. "It will enter service
at 70,000 pounds thrust, and the freighter needs 76,500 pounds thrust
in 2008," said Hughes, "so this will leave room for growth."
The engine contains many new features, including the first electronic
thrust reverser developed for an airliner. Electronics feature heavily
in overspeed protection, and in a FADEC that uses a virtual engine
model to help monitor and diagnose a broad spectrum of electronic
vibration measuring sensors.
"The biggest change for us was developing the control logic
for the electronic thrust reverser," said Hughes. "But
yes, we do systems integration."
The Engine Alliance business plan assumes it could take up to
20 years to break even on the program. "If we can get 1,200
engines it will be a very solid program for us on a 20 to 25 year
perspective," Hughes explained.
