Andrzej Jeziorski/DAHLEWITZ
BMW Rolls-Royce (BMW R-R) has switched from being a risk-sharing partner in the Boeing 717-200 programme by renegotiating the contract it had originally agreed with McDonnell Douglas (MDC)on the former MD-95.
The engine manufacturer is no longer a risk-sharing partner, says BMW R-R managing director Klaus Nittinger, having changed the terms of its deal with Boeing to a fixed-price contract after the Seattle giant took over MDC. The original deal would have given BMW R-R a share of the MD-95 sales revenue, whereas now the airframe maker is simply buying the BR715 engines at a pre-negotiated price from BMW R-R, which remains the exclusive powerplant supplier for the aircraft. The German-based engines company is believed to have cut its prices below the floor price it had negotiated with Douglas as a risk-sharer.
The first BR715 was shipped to Boeing's Douglas Products division in Long Beach in November, and the first Boeing 717-200 flight is due in June, with BR715 certification due in September. The Dahlewitz-based engine maker no longer has overall engine responsibility in the programme, but will simply deliver bare engines to Boeing.
California-based nacelle manufacturer BFGoodrich Aerostructures (formerly Rohr), previously acting as a subcontractor to BMW R-R, has become a subcontractor to Boeing directly, says Nittinger.
BMW R-R is also proposing the BR715 to power the rival Airbus Industrie/Aviation Industries of China/(AVIC) Singapore Technologies AE31X programme, but Nittinger does not envisage an early move to launch the project.
It is expecting that AVIC will qualify this year to manufacture high-pressure-compressor components for the BR700 family of engines. The Chinese components could be flying in BMW R-R engines by the turn of the century, says Kappler.
The move forms part of the company's drive to cut production costs, as well as an attempt to promote BMW R-R and R-R products in China. Nittinger says that it is still pushing for a 30% cut in cost, and is establishing a team to tackle the issue. The eight-year-old engine manufacturer is aiming to achieve an operating profit by 2000.
Source: Flight International
