GP7200 At a Glance |
| Certification: |
76,500 pounds thrust
|
| Growth: |
84,000 pounds thrust
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| Tested to: |
94,000 pounds thrust
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| Orders: |
300 engines worth $3+ billion
|
| Win rate: |
67 of 110 A380s (where engine has been chosen) |
Most executives find certifying an engine a daunting enough challenge. Engine Alliance president Bruce Hughes wears one hat to manage the final trials and flight tests of the GP7200, and another to coerce and finesse the supply chain in order to deliver 49 engines next year, 41 the year after, and up to 75 in 2008.
“This is the most aggressive ramp-up on big engines that we have ever done,” he told Show News, explaining that engines will be rolling off the production line long before flight testing on the A380 is complete.
The GP7200 is scheduled to finish certification testing at the end of next month and receive its FAA approval in October. The Alliance will begin building the first production engine that month, and start delivering production engines to Airbus next February. First flight on the A380 will be in November, with testing by Airbus until August 2006.
“So there will be quite a few production engines in the pipeline even as flight test is going on,” said Hughes. “There is some risk in this, but we have every confidence that changes will be minimal.”
To meet the challenging delivery timetable and forecast demand, the Engine Alliance has had to commit to long-lead items, castings and forgings well ahead of airlines firming up orders for the four-engined A380.
“We’ve been working since last year on sourcing raw materials,” explained Hughes. “They’re difficult to line up — especially titanium and high-nickel alloys —and prices are going up.” Hughes has also had to accelerate the schedule for engine shipments to Airbus from the usual two-to-three months before delivery of the airliner to six months, to allow for the A380 to be ferried from Toulouse to Hamburg for three months of interior completion.
The GP7200 will enter revenue service on Emirates’ A380-800 aircraft in October 2006. Goals at that point include:
- Matching ETOPS requirements, even though the four-engined A380 doesn’t need them;
- Dispatch reliability of 99.9%;
- 14,000 endurance cycles on the engine, equivalent to more than 30,000 hours of revenue service.
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