The Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engine for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) will fly in April, says the engine manufacturer's marketing director Paul Finklestein at MRO Americas.
The 17,000lb thrust engine marks the smallest operational application of geared turbofan technology to date.
The first flight of the MRJ prototype was initially scheduled around the same time, but it has been delayed to an undetermined date for undisclosed reasons. The non-flying developmental prototype, the so called 'iron bird,' began taxi testing in December 2011.
Also at MRO Americas, Finklestein announced plans to certify the 24,000lb thrust geared turbofan, to go on the Bombardier CSeries, in July. "We're going to certify the CSeries engine in about three months. We're building production-certified hardware for the CSeries...We've already flown two CSeries engines we've got eight engines in build," he says.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
