EAST HARTFORD -- The first PW4000-100 Advantage70 development engine will soon leave Pratt & Whitney's Middletown, CT, engine center to begin ground testing at the company's East Hartford test facility. The engine, providing 70,000 pounds of thrust for the Airbus A330, will start a series of development tests leading to planned Federal Aviation Administration engine certification in August 2008. Initial development flight testing will begin in the first quarter of 2008 on Pratt & Whitney's 747 flying test bed aircraft, followed by additional flight testing on an A330-200 in 2009. Pratt & Whitney is a division of United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX).
"We're looking forward to the Advantage70 building on the very successful PW4000-100 engine program for the A330," says Jim Speich, PW4000-100 program manager. "The Advantage70 technology upgrades will provide increased thrust, reduced fuel burn and emissions, better durability and lower maintenance cost for our customers."
The Advantage70 engine is scheduled to enter service in 2009 on A330-200 freighters operated by Flyington Freighters, a cargo carrier based in Hyderabad, India. In addition to Flyington, recent customers for the PW4000-100 engine include Air Caraibes, Grupo Marsans, Kingfisher Airlines and TAM Linhas Aereas. Operators of A330 aircraft powered by PW4000-100 engines, which entered service in 1994, will be able to incorporate the Advantage technology upgrade into their engines to realize the package's thrust, fuel efficiency and maintenance cost improvements.
Pratt & Whitney has over 17,000 aircraft engines installed with hundreds of airlines throughout the world. Additionally, Pratt & Whitney is a leading partner in two joint venture companies that manufacture commercial aircraft engines: International Aero Engines, which makes the V2500 engine for the Airbus A320 family of aircraft, and the Engine Alliance, whose GP7200 engine is FAR 33 certified for the new Airbus A380 aircraft.
