Andrew Doyle
Engine manufacturers competing to supply the powerplant for the Airbus Industrie Asia (AIA)/Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) AE31X regional airliner family are not expecting a final selection to be made until between late-next year and early-1999.
The contest is a fight between BMW Rolls-Royce (BMW R-R), offering the BR715, Pratt & Whitney with its PW6000 and CFM International offering the CFM56-9.
Snecma chairman and chief executive officer, Jean-Paul Bechat, speaking at Dubai '97 says: "I don't believe that they (AIA/AVIC) have yet decided what kind of aircraft they want to do - my guess is that engine selection will be delayed."
He does not expect a decision, "before mid-1998".
BMW R-R sales engineer, Rainer Loeper, says the Anglo-German company is not expecting a decision to be made until 1999.
Meanwhile, both companies are stepping up their efforts to gain a slice of the engine business on smaller regional jets.
The joint Snecma/Pratt & Whitney Canada SPW14 has already been chosen to power Aero International (Regional)'s (AI(R)) proposed 70-seat Air Jet, but considerable uncertainty remains over whether the project will proceed.
However, Bechat says that he is "confident that before the end of the year some sort of decision will be made" on launching the programme.
If the Air Jet does not go ahead, the two engine companies will, "keep it [the SPW14] active, waiting for an application".
Bechat believes that the SPW14 could also be suitable for a further "shrink" version of the AE31X.
BMW R-R, meanwhile, is preparing to deliver a pair of BR710s to Russia's Tupolev for the Tu-334-120 regional airliner, says Loeper, following the completion of "detailed studies" on the engine Installation.
"The plan is we are going to deliver two BR710s to Tupolev at the end of this year, or early next year," he says, with "maybe the first flight by the end of next year."
Source: Flight Daily News
