Karen Walker
Things are hotting up considerably at the General Electric/Pratt & Whitney Alliance engine programme in light of this week's show announcement that the GP7000 is being formally offered on the new Boeing 767-400ERX.The major announcement, which Alliance chiefs confirmed yesterday at the Show, will bring forward the point at which the engine's final design is frozen from September to January 2001. Alliance president Lloyd Thompson points out that, with a scheduled in-service date for the -400ERX of 3Q 2004, the GP7000 will have clocked up some 12-18 months experience before entering service with the Boeing 747X or the Airbus A3XX, the chief targets for the engine.
The success of getting the GP7000 as an offering on the -400ERX has considerably heightened the profile of this programme with the Alliance's two partner companies. "The senior executives at both GE and P&W have expressed their strong commitment to this programme and we are enjoying a very high level of support," he says.
The European Union will do a review of this development, but Alliance executives say they anticipate no problems or delays. They add they have not received any request from Airbus with regards to possible applications on aircraft other than the A3XX.Paul Yukimura, Alliance's executive vice-president and programme manager (P&W), says: "The ERX decision has come on us fairly suddenly, so we and Boeing will now be working together to synchronise schedules. But we will be ready to launch the programme in the first quarter of next year."
The company plans another set of compressor tests to begin early next year to further optimise performance. Thompson says results from compressor tests completed so far have left them "absolutely ecstatic".
Source: Flight Daily News
