Manufacturer aims to boost aircraft's marketability by allowing alternative powerplants to be fitted in less than 24h
Boeing is attempting to boost the attractiveness of the 7E7 to the financial community by designing in the ability to re-equip the aircraft with an alternative manufacturer's engines in less than 24h.
Revealing the initiative, Boeing 7E7 senior vice-president Mike Bair says the move will "offer the airlines a lot of downstream flexibility and will increase the financeability of the aircraft if you can have more than a single engine offering". The concept of a simple, modular engine swap-out capability has been pioneered by the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme to enable seamless interchangeability between the competing F135 and F136 engines now under development. Transferring this capability to a commercial programme is something new, however, and up until now has been rendered unworkable by the uniqueness of each engine-airframe combination.
"This could be an attractive feature to the financing community," says Bair, who adds that the "hook-up will be identical at the wing". Operators will be able to "un-bolt and rehang the replacement, and there will be a software roll in the flightdeck for the different engine. One of the reasons we can do this is the capability of today's avionics," Bair says, adding that "we can make it all software programmable".
The inability of today's designs to accept different engine makes without major modification "impedes the asset's marketability", says Bair, who cites the protracted resale of the prototype 777-200 as an example. The aircraft, originally powered by Pratt & Whitney PW4078s, was re-engined with Rolls-Royce Trent 800s for its new owner Cathay Pacific in a conversion effort "that took months".
The long-awaited 7E7 engine decision is, meanwhile, expected around mid-April, with Boeing now having "detailed business discussions as we move towards the downselect", says Bair. "We are still evaluating whether we have one or two, and we continue to lean towards dual sourcing the engine, although we haven't decided on anything yet." Related supplier/partner selections are still required for the strut/pylon and nacelle, with contenders Boeing Wichita, Hurel Hispano and Goodrich among the frontrunners.
A further range increase is being added to the "base" 7E7, which is now defined with a design range of 15,700km (8,500nm), an increase of almost 1,300km.Guy Norris / Los Angeles
Source: Flight International
