Having delivered nearly twice as many PW1000G-family geared turbofan (GTF) engines to customers in 2018 as it did in 2017, Pratt & Whitney reports that it more than doubled its GTF shipments in the first quarter of this year compared with deliveries in the comparable 2018 period.

Shane Eddy, P&W’s senior v-p of operations, told AIN that while the engine manufacturer does not share specific production figures for its GTF family, “suffice to say we are on track with our airframer commitments [for 2019] and anticipate no interference to that.”

Eddy said P&W’s increased first-quarter GTF deliveries included new engines assigned to the spare-engine pool P&W established in late 2017 to provide engines to operators suffering unplanned engine removals. P&W took back 55 in-service PW1100G-JM engines powering A320neos in 2017 and early 2018 because of metal contamination in the engine oil arising from rubbing in the number-three bearing knife-edge oil seal and hot spots in the combustion linings, which reduced the linings’ operational lives. However, by early 2018 P&W had developed fixes for both problems and it incorporated these into new production engines and into the 55 returned engines.

“These same modifications are incorporated on in-service engines when they go through the MRO shop for maintenance,” said Eddy. “The [in-service PW1100G-JM] fleet is more than 90 percent upgraded and has shown dramatic improvements, mitigating unplanned removals and increasing dispatch reliability on par with or better than industry standards.”

The PW1500G, which powers all versions of the Airbus A220, “is also in the process of incorporating upgrades to the No. 3 [bearing] oil seal and combustor,” Eddy added. “They are inducted into the MRO network once an oil seal wears beyond limits or if the combustor needs to be repaired, or for some other on-wing finding.” However, “there has not been any requirement for PW1900G engines [powering Embraer E-Jet-E2s] to be returned for remedial remanufacture,” he said. “The PW1900G engine has performed very well in service, with nearly a 100 percent dispatch reliability rate.”​

Noting that P&W now holds orders “for nearly 10,000 GTF engines…across all five GTF platforms,” Eddy said, “we have solid plans in place to continue ramping production to meet our customer demand.” To that end, “we invested $97 million in our Lansing, Michigan facility to automate our aluminum fan-blade production, which previously had been a pacing part. This automation eliminates process variation, and we’ve reduced production lead times by 40 percent and improved yield by 20 percent. These improvements have allowed us to increase our production output four-fold, and we are supporting our engine-delivery requirements.” Program partner IHI in Japan has “ramped up production as well and produce fan blades and fan-blade details in Japan.”

Elsewhere, “we continue to work on our parts-production capacity,” including investing in an additional metal press at P&W’s facility in Columbus, Georgia, to expand the company’s forgings capacity, said Eddy. “We also work closely with the supply chain to ensure they are ramping as well.”