EBACE 2008: Business jet boom will help P&WC weather the storm

Despite the global economic downturn, Pratt & Whitney Canada’s executive VP John Saabas remains confident his company will weather the storm, although he warns that the inevitable impact of the turmoil in the world’s stock and commodity markets have yet to be felt.

He says: “We have to be smart and recognise that there are likely to be some troubled times ahead, so we have to keep capitalisation and manpower in check. But we currently have a record production backlog, and our diversity in different market sectors and regions of the world are both really good news.

“However, we must not ignore history and this shows us that our industry is subject to a 10-year cycle with the lowest point expected in 2011, following the pattern that we’ve seen in the first year of each decade from 1971 onwards.”

He says that both 2009 and 2010 are looking particularly strong with the business market – along with the RJ and turboprop sectors - leading the way. “Now that our market is not so much US-centric as in the past, we are confident that the future remains bright, at least for P&WC which is, we believe, the global leader on business aircraft with more than 10,000 engines in service.”

Saabas says that his company’s success story is down to “a combination of factors, including a range of products second to none; cutting edge technology; and an after-sales service system that customers believe in”.

He says: “From the PW600 engines designed and produced specifically for the rapidly growing VLJ market; through the PW308 chosen by The Spaceship Company to power the WhiteKnightTwo launch vehicle for Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo sub-orbital spaceship; to our ‘customer first centres’ that are celebrating their first year of operation, everything is combining to ensure that we remain competitive and focused.”

Now that detailed design work and advanced production preparations are being made for P&WC’s all-new entrant in the competitive and fast-growing 10k-thrust market - the PW810 – the company is busy simulating and validating various production processes, just like it did for the PW600 low-thrust engine family.

Already selected by Cessna to power its new large-cabin Citation Columbus business aircraft, P&WC engineers are now entering into the detail design of various components with collaboration from suppliers and other partners and working with the objective of significantly reducing assembly and test time.

This next-generation product takes full advantage of the latest materials, aerodynamic and design technologies to incorporate advanced fan, compressor, turbine and low-emissions TALON combustion systems. This is all designed to surpass ICAO emissions standards by up to 50% for NOx and by up to 35% for CO emissions.

Overall environmental friendliness will also be enhanced through low unburned hydrocarbon and smoke emissions while its noise footprint will be well below Stage IV standards.

The first run of the PW810 is targeted for mid-2009 with the Citation Columbus – designed for intercontinental travel with a target range of 4,000nm (7,408km) at Mach 0.8 carrying eight passengers – scheduled to enter service in 2014.

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Source: Flight Daily News