Geared Turbofan - Ticket to the Big Time for P&W?

When I think airline engines only two names come to mind: Pratt & Whitney and General Electric. Although they have a huge military market, P&W has been suffering in the commercial airline market in recent years. According to the Wall Street Journal, P&W's new PurePower PW1000G geared turbofan engine may be what it takes for them to break back into this market.

WSJ quotes Pratt as saying that this new engine is 16% more efficient that anything currently available on the market. It uses fewer components and an "ultra high bypass ratio" to reduce fuel consumption, pollution and noise while still putting out tons of thrust. It sounds almost too good to be true, but other companies are working on geared turbofan technology too. The catch is that Pratt is supposedly years ahead of anyone else with this technology. If you visit their website, you'll see that they've flown this engine on a 747 and they love the results.

If this new engine is as impressive as it sounds, then P&W definitely missed out by not marketing it for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. However, there are other opportunities out there...the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320 are still very popular. Both these jets are used by dozens of airlines and significant fuel savings might make it worth the trouble of upgrading the engines.

In the meantime, P&W as scored one important customer: Bombardier. This regional jet powerhouse is making a break for the B-737/A-320 market with their new CSeries jet. It's a single-aisle jet with a size and range comparable to the aforementioned competitors. With this new engine and the other technology that is going into the design, the CS100 and CS300 have the potential to be powerful contenders in that market...especially for an airline with old jets who's looking to upgrade.

It sounds like Pratt & Whitney have a great product and that, thanks to some vision and great planning, they are in a unique position to bring this product to a market that desperately needs all the capabilities it offers. I hope this technology ends up as promising as it looks and I'm looking forward to seeing it fly on Bombardier's jets and others.