"These decisions support what we've been saying for some time: that the Airbus A319-320/V2500 combination represents the most technically advanced choice in our market," Eccleston told Show News. IAE competes head to head with arch-rival CFM International's CFM56 engine on those Airbus models.

While Airbus has admitted the British Airways deal was won with extremely fine pricing, Eccleston is adamant that price was not the only factor in the engine decision. "This competition wasn't just fought on price, but on economics," he said. British Airways was most concerned with life cycle costs of the engines, and one of the winning ingredients was an aggressive Fleet Hour Agreement-or pay per hour-for off-wing overhaul of engines, accessories and nacelles. This, Eccleston explained, gives the airline a price for overhauls for which they pay a fixed price per hour of engine operation. It does not cover on-wing maintenance, which will be handled by the airline itself.

The British Airways victory means that V2500 engines will be operated by four out of five of the world's largest airlines--including Lufthansa, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, Eccleston said. The elusive fifth airline is American, which chose CFM-powered Boeing 737s for its fleet.

Total orders for the 22,000- to 33,000-pound-thrust V2500 turbofan now stand at 2,580 engines, worth $17 billion. The 999 engines in service have accumulated 7.5 million hours, with the high-time V2500-A1 hitting 25,000 hours and the most-used -A5 racking up 17,000 hours still on-wing. Eleven engines are now at 15,000 hours on-wing, and 19 have totaled more than 14,000 hours.

Eccleston believes the engines are proving to be the most reliable in the industry-a major factor in their continued success. That success, however, is tied to Airbus. Eccleston is still irked that the V2500 cannot get on the Boeing 737, which is powered exclusively by the CFM56. That fact also irks Pratt & Whitney, which is represented in the narrowbody market only by its 32.5% share in IAE (the other partners are Rolls-Royce with 32.5%, Japanese Aero Engines Corp. with 23%, and MTU Daimler-Benz with 12%).

The future direction of IAE is now in doubt as Pratt and Whitney has decided to offer its PW6000 in direct competition with the V2500 if it can find a launch customer. The obvious target is the proposed 100-passenger Airbus A319M5. "We have had discussions with Airbus on the M5," said Eccleston. "If it is to be part of the A320 family, we would be very interested, but Airbus has decided instead to look at the PW6000."

"We're very happy with IAE, but we must see what happens long term with that venture and how the placement of a PW6000 on the M5 could be worked," Pratt & Whitney president Karl Krapek told Show News. "We're in confidential discussions now with all partners as to what to do with IAE."

Krapek allows that IAE has a lot of upside potential with the V2500. "We're very satisfied with its progress," he said, but he doesn't like sharing its success with the partners. "Frankly, I get half of half. That's not enough for us." Hence the intention to launch Pratt's own competing engine.

Eccleston can do nothing about the outcome. Instead, he is focusing on sales and engine improvements, knowing that the V2500 engine will be around for a long time to come.

By John Morris