The Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engine family has been selected by Asiana Airlines of South Korea to power its future fleet of 48 Boeing 777s and Airbus A330s.
Asiana opted for the PW4000 series after a campaign which largely revolved around price and the competing engine manufacturers' willingness to offer a higher-thrust, 436kN engine for its Boeing 777-300s. The airline had earlier dropped General Electric from the competition after it refused to commit to the development of the GE90-100B (Flight International, 27 November-3 December, P4).
The deal will involve PW4098 engines for Asiana's ten 777-300s on order or option, the lower-thrust PW4090 for a similar number of -200IGWs and the PW4164/PW4168 for the carrier's 15 A330-300s and 13 smaller -200s.
The US manufacturer also won a major order from Asiana's main competitor, Korean Air (KAL), 18 months ago, for engines to power its fleet of Boeing 777-200/300s and A330-300s.
The deal represents a setback for the UK engine manufacturer, which was hoping to win an order for the Trent 700/800 to consolidate its recent sales successes with Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines.
Source: Flight International
