By Geoff Thomas
In the current climate of growing airliner sales and burgeoning international and regional air travel, you’ll have to look pretty hard to find a dissatisfied engine maker at Le Bourget – and Pratt & Whitney Canada is no exception to the general rule.
Company president Alain Bellemare spoke to Flight Daily News just before the Paris Airshow and says 2007 is turning out to be “a very solid year. We have enjoyed significant growth over the past five years with a doubling of sales over the same period”.
Important
The much-vaunted arrival of Very Light Jets (VLJ) on the scene has been hugely important for P&WC for obvious reasons – the company’s PW600 series of engines are used to power the Eclipse 500, the Cessna Citation Mustang and the Embraer Phenom 100. Both the Eclipse (PW610F) and the Mustang (PW615F) are already in service – while the Brazilian Phenom (PW617F) is set to have its maiden flight this summer.
It’s partly as a result of all the VLJ activity that will transpire over the coming months and years that P&WC has set-up a new customer first centre (CFC). “The aftermarket is very important to us especially as we have more than 42,000 engines flying around the world with more than 9,000 operators,” says Bellemare.
“Our new centre will improve front-line support and ensure that we deliver an integrated, rapid-response service to our customers.
“We’ll do this by bringing technical support, logistics, service engineering, engine maintenance programmes and warranty all together under one roof. The CFC operates out of P&WC’s HQ in Quebec, Canada, 24/7.”
Bellemare is also in very positive mood about launching the company’s PWX10 – “the proven and leading-edge 10k engine that P&WC is proposing to build for the business jet and 40/60-seat RJ markets. In terms of fuel burn, noise and emissions it will better all existing and future standards by up to 50%.”
Efficient
Talking about the current regional aircraft market, Bellemare also mentions the company’s PT100 family of turboprop engines which despite being around for 20 years or more are still, he says, hugely efficient in terms of fuel burn, emissions and serviceability.
“Although you lose a bit on speed and gain a little noise, they are incredibly effective and we have more than doubled production volume over the past two years.”
Offered in 29 models, PW100 engine applications include: the EADS ATR 42 and 72; the Bombardier Aerospace Q Series Dash 8 (Q100, Q200, Q300 and Q400); the Canadair CL-215T/415 waterbomber; the Dornier 328 turboprop; the Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia; the Fokker 50 and 60; the Ilyushin IL-114-100; the AVIC I/XAC MA-60; and the BAE Systems ATP.
Turning to helicopter turboshaft engines, the company’s latest offering – the PW210 - is a new-generation engine for single and intermediate to medium twin-engine helicopters in the 1,000shp class. Says Bellemare: “By incorporating the latest advances in compressor design technology and turbine materials, the PW210 offers the best power-to-weight ratio and fuel consumption in class.”
The PW210 also incorporates a dual-channel, full-authority digital electronic control (FADEC) system with state-of-the-art diagnostics capability.
The first model, the PW210S, was announced in 2005 to power the Sikorsky S-76D helicopter, targeting corporate, offshore oil, hospital, airline and government operators around the world. In October 2006, the PW210 successfully completed its first engine run and development is on schedule. Production engines will be available as early as the second half of 2008.
And of the future? Will it be geared-fan, or conventional, or turbo-prop…or what? Bellemare says that conundrum still has to be resolved and “we’re still looking at things”. But you can be sure that P&WC will be in there fighting hard whatever finally emerges.
Source: Flight Daily News
