United Parcel Service (UPS) has choses Pratt & Whitney's PW4158 turbofan for its planned fleet of 75 new Airbus A300-600 freighters. It is the engine's first freighter application.
The deal, worth up to $3 billion, is P&W's largest single sale of the 2.39m (94in) fan-diameter PW4000 engine series in three years. UPS has ordered 30 aircraft with options on another 45 aircraft, 15 more that originally announced in September last year.
UPS choose the 58,000lb-thrust (258kN) P&W powerplant over the competing General Electric CF6-80C2 engine, which powers the 30 aircraft operated byA300-600F launch customer FedEx. Airbus is to hand over the first A300 freighter to UPS in mid-2000, with deliveries continuing through to 2009 if all the carrier's options are exercised. P&W is due to deliver its 2,000th 2.39m fan-diameter PW4000 in May.
UPS has almost doubled its net profit, up from 1997's $909 million to $1.7 billion last year. Revenues for 1998 also saw double digit growth, to $24.8 billion.
Source: Flight International
