G8000
Старожил
Pratt Positions For GTF Reset As Upgraded Certification Looms | Aviation Week Network
Two geared turbofan upgrade packages and new takeoff ratings lead Pratt & Whitney’s road map for improved Airbus A320neo performance.
aviationweek.com
With multiple engine upgrades underway and a major design refresh poised for full-scale production, Pratt & Whitney is approaching a key inflection point in its decades-long single-aisle comeback campaign with the PW1000G geared turbofan.
At the heart of the geared turbofan (GTF) initiative is the GTF Advantage (GTFA), a comprehensive core improvement package that targets greater performance while addressing nagging durability issues, particularly on the initial PW1100G variant powering the Airbus A320neo. Springing off this upgrade, Pratt has also developed a high-pressure, hot-section retrofit package, dubbed the HS+, to give existing PW1100G operators approximately 95% of the durability benefits of the Advantage.
Pratt received FAA type certification for the Advantage in February, earlier than expected. The company is “in the next steps” with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), says Rick Deurloo, Pratt’s president of commercial engines, “and then we’ll follow that up with EASA CS-25 aircraft level certification,” he notes.
“All that right now is on schedule,” Deurloo says. “We anticipate both will happen in the next coming months, and we remain on track to ship our first production engines to Airbus by the end of this year, and then they’re going to go into service starting the first half of next year.”
Changes incorporated in the Advantage include increased airflow in the core to reduce operating temperatures and an improved hot section to double time on wing. “The technology that we’re bringing into this really is around enhancements throughout the gas path,” Deurloo says. “It’s fundamentally more durable.”
Enhancements to the high-pressure turbine (HPT) include an advanced airfoil design with more durable coatings. The HPT and combustor also feature optimized cooling hole size, shape and location to reduce oxidation, all made using improved water jet drilling techniques in place of the original laser drilling process. The overall combination is designed to produce a 4% thrust improvement at sea level and up to 8% at higher elevations while reducing fuel burn by a further 1% compared with the current engine.
The improved combustor panel design was introduced early on as part of the Block D.1 production standard alongside upgrades to airfoil coatings, hot-section cooling and air seals. “Now we’re already seeing early indications [of improved durability] because we put it into service first in a harsh operating environment with IndiGo,” Deurloo says, referring to India’s largest carrier, which was significantly disrupted by issues with its GTF-powered A320neos. “So we’re seeing what those panels look like in the combustor, which will be in the Advantage.
“We now have life-limited parts going into service at full length, unlike when we first launched the GTF—that’s big,” Deurloo says. “We learned our lesson. The Advantage had more than double the amount of development testing than we did on the base engine, so we feel good about it.”
Development and certification has included flight testing on the company’s Boeing 747SP flying testbed as well as additional durability evaluations, such as sand and dust ingestion trials. Pratt also conducted military-style accelerated mission testing, which stressed the configuration through simulated, repeated operating cycles in rapid succession.
Upgrades also include an improved No. 3 compartment. This incorporates a ball bearing assembly that supports the front of the high-pressure compressor and carbon face seals seated axially against a rotating ring, which prevent oil leaks. Issues with the liftoff seals—so called because extra air is used to physically lift the seal off the ring during engine operation—led to a redesign. “That same configuration is going into the Advantage as well,” Deurloo says.
“Going into COVID, we had two significant issues,” he explains. “The low-pressure turbine (LPT) third stage was very fragile, and we were getting a lot of issues hanging back there. The other big issue was the accessory gearbox. But you don’t hear ‘boo’ about them now. We put in a new, redesigned third-stage [LPT] and a new, beefed-up accessory gearbox.
“In 2019, these issues were a huge headache for us, and during COVID, we completely retrofitted the fleet,” he notes. “These are examples of where we took a lot of learnings from the base and brought it into the Advantage, and what we’re learning on the Advantage incrementally, we are trying to bring as much as we can back into the base.”
Airbus expects to begin delivering GTFA-powered A320neos in the first half of 2026. Pratt aims to switch entirely to the new production standard over “somewhere between 18 and 24 months, at which point 100% [of] production build will be Advantage engines,” Deurloo says. “It is a low production rate on the front end, as the industrial machine ramps up with it. Is there an opportunity to take that low production rate and try and move it to the left a little bit? If things are going well, yes, but we’re trying to plan accordingly and not overcommit.”
In the background, the smaller PW1500G/1900G family is quietly undergoing similar enhancements. Although not yet the subject of a focused package of upgrades, the 24K—or 24,000-lb.-thrust—engines in this class are in line for a series of continuous improvements, Deurloo says. “People ask me all the time: ‘Is there going to be an Advantage-type [program] for the 24K’? What we are working on right now is bringing this engine to that standard for the 24K, and by that, I mean for both the A220 and the Embraer E2.” Upgraded components and sections will include a redesigned combustor, new turbine hardware and improved No. 4 compartment. The No. 4 section houses the roller bearing support assembly aft of the HPT and forward of the LPT rotor.
“There’s a lot going on in that program,” he explains. “This engine in the 2027 time frame will have a lot more goodness brought to it in the hot section. It’s all going through test right now. We’re talking to our operators, and they know that configuration is coming. But it’s all retrofittable. Let me emphasize: What we are delivering today is a significantly better configuration than what we were delivering years back. And this will only take it a step further, and it’s all retrofittable back into today’s 24K motor.”
Simultaneously, Airbus and Pratt are conducting EASA and FAA certification tests on a set of reduced climb thrust ratings designed to improve PW1100G durability.
“It reduces the hot section temperatures during the climb and effectively extends time on wing,” Deurloo says. “This is something that depends on the operator, and whether they’re in a benign or harsh environment, and whether the engine is at 27,000-lb.-thrust or a 33,000-lb.-thrust rating. But it gives anywhere between a 5-20% improvement in time on wing on a freshly overhauled engine or freshly delivered engine.”
The upgrade, which will be available as a basic electronic engine control software update, will provide an incremental durability improvement on top of the Advantage or HS+ package. “We are currently in the middle of certification on that software update as well, and it’s in EASA’s hands,” Deurloo says. “It’s going through the FAA already. So we’re hopeful that in the coming months as well, it will get into final software certification approval.”
While EASA and FAA approvals will enable immediate reciprocal incorporation in some countries, for others—such as India—it will require additional regulatory scrutiny. “But it allows us this year to start putting it in,” Deurloo says. “We’ll start by going to the final assembly lines. We’ll then go to the rest at the [maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) companies] and make sure every fresh engine gets it before it leaves. And then we’ll start going out into the fleet. We’ve got a detailed customer by customer plan on how to incorporate that.”
Meanwhile, Pratt’s 747SP is trialing the HS+ upgrade package. “We’re in the middle of flight-testing it right now,” Deurloo says. “The next step will be FAA FAR Part 33 engine certification, which we anticipate in the coming months, and then we’re targeting next year to get final certification done. We’ll begin by putting it in the MRO network during shop visits next year.”
Incorporating 35 part numbers from the GTFA, the HS+ package includes the improved combustor, an optimized HPT first-stage blade with improved coatings and a revised No. 3 bearing compartment. “It brings pretty close to twice the durability, so it’s a big one,” he says.
Although Pratt has not decided which MRO facility will be first to install the HS+ package, Deurloo says it will be one of the “mature shops,” such as the company’s sites in West Palm Beach, Florida; Eagle Services Asia (ESA) in Singapore; the Columbus Engine Center in Midland, Georgia; or MTU Maintenance in Hannover, Germany.
“We have started working through them on what it means from a workscope perspective on that engine when it comes in,” he says. “But right now, we’re laser-focused on just getting that certification done and getting the industrial ramp to produce the hardware done.” Initial installations at the MRO sites are due to begin in the first quarter of 2026.
Part of the ramp-up includes additional MRO facilities to support the GTF fleet, with four new sites opening in 2026-28 to add to the 17 already in operation. These include the $150 million expansion of an existing International Aero Engines V2500 facility with Air New Zealand in Christchurch, New Zealand, which will begin its first GTF overhaul in the fourth quarter of 2026. Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan will also induct GTFs that year. Additional MRO capacity is expected to come online when PW1500G/PW1900G overhauls begin at ITP Aero’s Madrid facility in 2027 and when a GTF overhaul shop opens at Sanad’s facility in Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates the following year.
“We’re also growing our capacity with existing partners,” Deurloo says, citing an expansion plan underway at MTU Aero Engines that will allow it to accept almost 600 shop visits annually across all GTF models. “So as MTU is spooling up and investing, Delta TechOps is also taking a 30% increase in annual GTF overall capacity, just for the PW1500G,” he says. Delta TechOps agreed this year to expand GTF overhaul capacity at its Atlanta facility over the next decade.
With help from increased investments in artificial intelligence and robotics—including a new automated high-pressure compressor rotor assembly system at the ESA facility that has a 100% pass yield rate—Deurloo is optimistic that Pratt is overcoming the aftermarket bottleneck hindering its broader recovery from the contaminated powder metal (PM) parts crisis revealed in 2023.
That issue, which centered on the discovery of flawed PM parts made in 2015-21, resulted in hundreds of additional engine shop visits—primarily for PW1100Gs—with an average turnaround time of 300 days. That caused a spike in aircraft-on-ground (AOG) events that peaked in early 2024 at around 650, mostly affecting A320neos.
This year, the number of AOG events settled in at about 300-350, where they are expected to remain until 2026. Off-wing times are slowly coming down to 250 days or less thanks to an increase in spare part output, improvements in initial disassembly and post-work reassembly processes and some newly developed repairs, Pratt says. “We peaked in the first half of the year, and we’re now working the trajectory down,” Deurloo says. “We hope you’ll see that improvement by the end of this year and continuing into next year.”
Deurloo echoes guidance from Pratt parent RTX’s second-quarter earnings call that it remains on track for improvement of at least 30% in MRO output for the full year, noting that more is being done to reduce AOG events. “We’re pleased with the 30% year-over-year output across the GTF,” he says. “It is probably premature, but when I look at the full year, I think there’s an opportunity, maybe, to do even greater than 30% this current year.”
At the heart of the geared turbofan (GTF) initiative is the GTF Advantage (GTFA), a comprehensive core improvement package that targets greater performance while addressing nagging durability issues, particularly on the initial PW1100G variant powering the Airbus A320neo. Springing off this upgrade, Pratt has also developed a high-pressure, hot-section retrofit package, dubbed the HS+, to give existing PW1100G operators approximately 95% of the durability benefits of the Advantage.
- The Advantage nears EASA certification
- Hot-section upgrade is in flight testing
Pratt received FAA type certification for the Advantage in February, earlier than expected. The company is “in the next steps” with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), says Rick Deurloo, Pratt’s president of commercial engines, “and then we’ll follow that up with EASA CS-25 aircraft level certification,” he notes.
“All that right now is on schedule,” Deurloo says. “We anticipate both will happen in the next coming months, and we remain on track to ship our first production engines to Airbus by the end of this year, and then they’re going to go into service starting the first half of next year.”
Changes incorporated in the Advantage include increased airflow in the core to reduce operating temperatures and an improved hot section to double time on wing. “The technology that we’re bringing into this really is around enhancements throughout the gas path,” Deurloo says. “It’s fundamentally more durable.”
Enhancements to the high-pressure turbine (HPT) include an advanced airfoil design with more durable coatings. The HPT and combustor also feature optimized cooling hole size, shape and location to reduce oxidation, all made using improved water jet drilling techniques in place of the original laser drilling process. The overall combination is designed to produce a 4% thrust improvement at sea level and up to 8% at higher elevations while reducing fuel burn by a further 1% compared with the current engine.
The improved combustor panel design was introduced early on as part of the Block D.1 production standard alongside upgrades to airfoil coatings, hot-section cooling and air seals. “Now we’re already seeing early indications [of improved durability] because we put it into service first in a harsh operating environment with IndiGo,” Deurloo says, referring to India’s largest carrier, which was significantly disrupted by issues with its GTF-powered A320neos. “So we’re seeing what those panels look like in the combustor, which will be in the Advantage.
“We now have life-limited parts going into service at full length, unlike when we first launched the GTF—that’s big,” Deurloo says. “We learned our lesson. The Advantage had more than double the amount of development testing than we did on the base engine, so we feel good about it.”
Development and certification has included flight testing on the company’s Boeing 747SP flying testbed as well as additional durability evaluations, such as sand and dust ingestion trials. Pratt also conducted military-style accelerated mission testing, which stressed the configuration through simulated, repeated operating cycles in rapid succession.
Upgrades also include an improved No. 3 compartment. This incorporates a ball bearing assembly that supports the front of the high-pressure compressor and carbon face seals seated axially against a rotating ring, which prevent oil leaks. Issues with the liftoff seals—so called because extra air is used to physically lift the seal off the ring during engine operation—led to a redesign. “That same configuration is going into the Advantage as well,” Deurloo says.
“Going into COVID, we had two significant issues,” he explains. “The low-pressure turbine (LPT) third stage was very fragile, and we were getting a lot of issues hanging back there. The other big issue was the accessory gearbox. But you don’t hear ‘boo’ about them now. We put in a new, redesigned third-stage [LPT] and a new, beefed-up accessory gearbox.
“In 2019, these issues were a huge headache for us, and during COVID, we completely retrofitted the fleet,” he notes. “These are examples of where we took a lot of learnings from the base and brought it into the Advantage, and what we’re learning on the Advantage incrementally, we are trying to bring as much as we can back into the base.”
Airbus expects to begin delivering GTFA-powered A320neos in the first half of 2026. Pratt aims to switch entirely to the new production standard over “somewhere between 18 and 24 months, at which point 100% [of] production build will be Advantage engines,” Deurloo says. “It is a low production rate on the front end, as the industrial machine ramps up with it. Is there an opportunity to take that low production rate and try and move it to the left a little bit? If things are going well, yes, but we’re trying to plan accordingly and not overcommit.”
In the background, the smaller PW1500G/1900G family is quietly undergoing similar enhancements. Although not yet the subject of a focused package of upgrades, the 24K—or 24,000-lb.-thrust—engines in this class are in line for a series of continuous improvements, Deurloo says. “People ask me all the time: ‘Is there going to be an Advantage-type [program] for the 24K’? What we are working on right now is bringing this engine to that standard for the 24K, and by that, I mean for both the A220 and the Embraer E2.” Upgraded components and sections will include a redesigned combustor, new turbine hardware and improved No. 4 compartment. The No. 4 section houses the roller bearing support assembly aft of the HPT and forward of the LPT rotor.
“There’s a lot going on in that program,” he explains. “This engine in the 2027 time frame will have a lot more goodness brought to it in the hot section. It’s all going through test right now. We’re talking to our operators, and they know that configuration is coming. But it’s all retrofittable. Let me emphasize: What we are delivering today is a significantly better configuration than what we were delivering years back. And this will only take it a step further, and it’s all retrofittable back into today’s 24K motor.”
Simultaneously, Airbus and Pratt are conducting EASA and FAA certification tests on a set of reduced climb thrust ratings designed to improve PW1100G durability.
“It reduces the hot section temperatures during the climb and effectively extends time on wing,” Deurloo says. “This is something that depends on the operator, and whether they’re in a benign or harsh environment, and whether the engine is at 27,000-lb.-thrust or a 33,000-lb.-thrust rating. But it gives anywhere between a 5-20% improvement in time on wing on a freshly overhauled engine or freshly delivered engine.”
The upgrade, which will be available as a basic electronic engine control software update, will provide an incremental durability improvement on top of the Advantage or HS+ package. “We are currently in the middle of certification on that software update as well, and it’s in EASA’s hands,” Deurloo says. “It’s going through the FAA already. So we’re hopeful that in the coming months as well, it will get into final software certification approval.”
While EASA and FAA approvals will enable immediate reciprocal incorporation in some countries, for others—such as India—it will require additional regulatory scrutiny. “But it allows us this year to start putting it in,” Deurloo says. “We’ll start by going to the final assembly lines. We’ll then go to the rest at the [maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) companies] and make sure every fresh engine gets it before it leaves. And then we’ll start going out into the fleet. We’ve got a detailed customer by customer plan on how to incorporate that.”
Meanwhile, Pratt’s 747SP is trialing the HS+ upgrade package. “We’re in the middle of flight-testing it right now,” Deurloo says. “The next step will be FAA FAR Part 33 engine certification, which we anticipate in the coming months, and then we’re targeting next year to get final certification done. We’ll begin by putting it in the MRO network during shop visits next year.”
Incorporating 35 part numbers from the GTFA, the HS+ package includes the improved combustor, an optimized HPT first-stage blade with improved coatings and a revised No. 3 bearing compartment. “It brings pretty close to twice the durability, so it’s a big one,” he says.
Although Pratt has not decided which MRO facility will be first to install the HS+ package, Deurloo says it will be one of the “mature shops,” such as the company’s sites in West Palm Beach, Florida; Eagle Services Asia (ESA) in Singapore; the Columbus Engine Center in Midland, Georgia; or MTU Maintenance in Hannover, Germany.
“We have started working through them on what it means from a workscope perspective on that engine when it comes in,” he says. “But right now, we’re laser-focused on just getting that certification done and getting the industrial ramp to produce the hardware done.” Initial installations at the MRO sites are due to begin in the first quarter of 2026.
Part of the ramp-up includes additional MRO facilities to support the GTF fleet, with four new sites opening in 2026-28 to add to the 17 already in operation. These include the $150 million expansion of an existing International Aero Engines V2500 facility with Air New Zealand in Christchurch, New Zealand, which will begin its first GTF overhaul in the fourth quarter of 2026. Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan will also induct GTFs that year. Additional MRO capacity is expected to come online when PW1500G/PW1900G overhauls begin at ITP Aero’s Madrid facility in 2027 and when a GTF overhaul shop opens at Sanad’s facility in Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates the following year.
“We’re also growing our capacity with existing partners,” Deurloo says, citing an expansion plan underway at MTU Aero Engines that will allow it to accept almost 600 shop visits annually across all GTF models. “So as MTU is spooling up and investing, Delta TechOps is also taking a 30% increase in annual GTF overall capacity, just for the PW1500G,” he says. Delta TechOps agreed this year to expand GTF overhaul capacity at its Atlanta facility over the next decade.
With help from increased investments in artificial intelligence and robotics—including a new automated high-pressure compressor rotor assembly system at the ESA facility that has a 100% pass yield rate—Deurloo is optimistic that Pratt is overcoming the aftermarket bottleneck hindering its broader recovery from the contaminated powder metal (PM) parts crisis revealed in 2023.
That issue, which centered on the discovery of flawed PM parts made in 2015-21, resulted in hundreds of additional engine shop visits—primarily for PW1100Gs—with an average turnaround time of 300 days. That caused a spike in aircraft-on-ground (AOG) events that peaked in early 2024 at around 650, mostly affecting A320neos.
This year, the number of AOG events settled in at about 300-350, where they are expected to remain until 2026. Off-wing times are slowly coming down to 250 days or less thanks to an increase in spare part output, improvements in initial disassembly and post-work reassembly processes and some newly developed repairs, Pratt says. “We peaked in the first half of the year, and we’re now working the trajectory down,” Deurloo says. “We hope you’ll see that improvement by the end of this year and continuing into next year.”
Deurloo echoes guidance from Pratt parent RTX’s second-quarter earnings call that it remains on track for improvement of at least 30% in MRO output for the full year, noting that more is being done to reduce AOG events. “We’re pleased with the 30% year-over-year output across the GTF,” he says. “It is probably premature, but when I look at the full year, I think there’s an opportunity, maybe, to do even greater than 30% this current year.”