On the Record with STEVEN HEATH, PRESIDENT & CEO, INTERNATIONAL AERO ENGINES
Twenty years young is the how International Aero Engines describes
itself at its birthday celebrations here, taking a dig at its 'older'
rival, CFM International.
In pushing the claim that its technology is newer and better,
IAE is underscoring the growing importance to airlines of low emissions
and low noise. "We are," says IAE president and CEO Steve
Heath, "the only engine in its class that already meets ICAO
Chapter 4 noise requirements." IAE's V2500 is also the only
engine to meet those stringent requirements on the Airbus A321,
he adds-one reason it powers 100% of that model in Asia.
Both IAE and CFM are international consortia: IAE is composed
of Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, MTU and a Japanese group, while
CFM International is a joint venture between GE and Snecma. They
compete in the 22,000 to 33,000 pounds thrust range to power the
Airbus A320 family of narrowbody airliners; CFMI has a monopoly
on the competing Boeing 737 range.
So one must always qualify sales statistics. "We have won
100% of our available market this year," says Heath, with five
customers choosing V2500s for 80 firm orders through the end of
April. By far the most significant of these was the order for 67
aircraft from low-fare carrier jetBlue.
But IAE's market share fell to 40% of the 295 A320 family aircraft
ordered in 2002 from a more recent 55% due to Boeing winning 120
airliners for easyJet. "That single order distorts the historical
picture of market preference for the V2500," says Heath, who
notes 14 customers chose the V2500 last year versus 12 for Boeing.
Nevertheless, a sale is a sale. IAE plans to produce about 230
engines this year, down substantially from 2001's record 281. Heath
is optimistic that annual capacity of 300 will be needed within
a few years as the commercial airline market recovers.
IAE has delivered 2,100 of the 4,700 engines, worth $25 billion,
ordered so far by more than 80 customers in 35 countries. Its growing
installed base is bringing good returns in service contracts and
aftermarket sales for its partners, enough to convince them to commit
to the next generation engine. Called VISTA, it will be a new centerline
engine for 150-passenger airliner families incorporating latest
technology from Rolls, Pratt and MTU, and is only awaiting the call
from Boeing and Airbus. "We would like to entertain a new IAE
product by about 2008, but it looks more like it will be 2012 before
it is needed," says Heath.
The term In-Flight Shut Down (IFSD) must be eliminated from
the vocabulary. That's one of the goals of International Aero
Engines, according to its president and CEO Steve Heath. "In
Asia even to have one now is treated as seriously as a flight
safety event," he told Show News.
The consortium that makes up IAE is working to eliminate
inflight failures, which are usually caused by accessories
provided by outside suppliers. IAE's V2500-A5 engine is currently
suffering an IFSD rate of 0.003, or three shutdowns every
million flight hours-more than six times better than required
by the FAA for its 180-minutes ETOPS requirement.
"In the future no other number but zero will be acceptable,"
Heath says.
IAE is also working to drive dispatch reliability to 99.99%-even
as airlines are pushing to reduce the length of delay that
counts as an event- and to double time on-wing to 36,000-40,000
hours.
"These really are incredible numbers," says Heath,
who added that in the future it will be difficult to find
a pilot who ever had to shut down an engine in his entire
commercial flying career.
