PAUL LEWIS / WASHINGTON DC
Customers negotiate delivery and engine changes
Airbus and Pratt & Whitney are in intensive talks with their A318 customers over delivery dates and engine selection, following continuing problems with the performance of the twinjet's PW6000, originally designated the launch powerplant.
The CFM56-5 will now become lead powerplant on the A318 programme, and the airframe builder has been forced to start a major overhaul of the programme to cater for PW6000 problems. Flight testing of the 107-seat aircraft got under way on 15 January.
Certification of the PW6000-powered version, originally due in early 2003, will now be delayed by at least a year, and the CFM International CFM56-powered model becomes the lead variant in the programme. The first CFM56-powered A318 is due for delivery to Air France in September 2003.
The delay has affected several customers, including America West, British Airways, Frontier Airlines, and International Lease Finance (ILFC), which were due to take PW6000-powered aircraft next year. Although the delay will help some customers trying to defer aircraft, it is not clear if P&W will escape paying compensation for A318s not delivered within the contract schedule.
ILFC confirms it is in the process of renegotiating its order in the wake of the PW6000 delays. "We're in talks with Airbus on that and we're also in active discussions with P&W and CFM as well," says ILFC president John Plueger. "What's driving the decision is not deliveries but the overall technical outcome of the PW6000 and whether to switch to the CFM56."
According to industry sources, ILFC is considering switching some or all of its order from the PW6000 engine to the competing CFM56-5. ILFC at the same time has renegotiated its A318 order, and reduced the total by 10 aircraft to 20. As a result of this, and the cancellation of the GATX/Flightlease order for 12 A318s, the order book has fallen by 22 aircraft to 114.
Frontier Airlines is also having to reconsider its plans, having ordered five aircraft, three of which were due for delivery during 2003. In addition, it planned to lease an A318 from ILFC from February 2003. Frontier, unlike many A318 customers, is in urgent need of additional lift and cannot afford to delay deliveries.
P&W, in co-ordination with ILFC, is trying to provide Frontier with interim capacity, possibly in the form of the larger A319. The Denver-based carrier's only alternative is to switch to CFM56-powered A318s and delay delivery of its first three aircraft.
Airbus plans a 900h flight-test programme for the A318. Prior to the delay, the bulk of testing was due to be flown by two PW6000-powered aircraft with the CFM56-powered version carrying out just 150h. According to the manufacturer, the first flight of the CFM56-powered A318 has been brought forward to the end of October this year. Previously, the second PW6000-powered A318 was due to undertake 300h of flight-test and then be re-engined to become the first CFM56-equipped model.
Around 300h of the 750h allocated to the PW6000-powered model has shifted to the CFM56 version. The A318's version of the CFM56-5 is set for certification by June.
P&W does not plan to take a decision on changing or modifying the PW6000 high pressure compressor until April. The engine manufacturer faces a choice between adding additional stages to the current high pressure compressor or switching to the six stage HDV12 offered by. Either way it could be 2004 before a performance guarantee conforming engine is ready.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MAX KINGSLEY-JONES IN PARIS
Source: Flight International
