General Electric/Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance and Rolls-Royce, rival engine manufacturers for the Airbus A380, have been in a neck-and-neck race for orders. The Engine Alliance's advantage could change this week, but as its president Lloyd Thompson tells Karen Walker, nothing is taken for granted.
Q: Where does the GP7200 stand in its development programme?
A: We have now transitioned into the detailed design stage. That started in December 2002. We have frozen the design and are issuing drawings to our suppliers and customers. We have about 850 people on the programme now. We have a real programme.
Q: What specifically is going on now?
A: The 108in diameter (2.7m) swept fan is running on a modified Pratt & Whitney PW4098 engine at their facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. Testing will run through August of this year to establish aerodynamic, structural, performance and noise data. It's a 94%-scale test that will help us refine the final design of the GP7200's 116in diameter fan.
The fan has been running on the rig since late February and we are right on target. Also, the combustor rig is running now in Cincinnati. It's a full annular combustor. We have started to verify our emissions targets - the engine is designed for ample margin on 2004 regulations, so we expect no surprises there.
Finally, the low-pressure turbine, which is being designed by MTU, ran in a rig last year as a five-stage version and in the second half of this year we will run the six-stage final version.
Q: What are the key milestones going forward?
A: We will run a third time on the rig in September. Each time we run it we eke out a little more efficiency. We will damage the blades with a birdstrike. In February 2004 we will do the first full engine test.
We accelerated our programme to support Airbus because they wanted another two-and-a-half months. We still plan to certificate in July 2005, but we will fly on the A380 in early November 2005. The accelerated programme gives us more maturity.
Q: What is your perspective on the A380 market outlook?
A: Timing is everything, they say, and this is your proof. I think this is going to be another example of where the industry will start hitting its stride again just as the product is ready. We'll see a turnaround in late 2004 or 2005 and this aeroplane will come into service in 2006. This is going to be a winner. I see the size of the market in the order of 650-800 aircraft.
Q: You are neck and neck with Rolls-Royce so far in terms of engine orders for the A380. What share will the Engine Alliance expect from the total A380 market?
A: We would like to get our fair share. Our customers have rewarded us for the value proposition we put to them. We are going into service in October 2006 with Emirates and in June 2008 they will get their first freighter. We see the freighter market as big also.
Q: What about other applications for the engine?
A: History does indicate that you build the engine and the first application ends up not being the key one and it's the second or third one. I think this could be the same. We will have an engine ready for Airbus and for Boeing.
Source: Flight Daily News
