MTU Aero Engines says it has seen the time to overhaul some PW1000G geared-turbofan engines (GTF) fall below 100 in-shop days after the number of GTF-powered aircraft on the ground in need of unscheduled maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) activities peaked in the second quarter.
“Our efforts to improve turnaround times for GTF MRO shop visits are beginning to bear first fruits,” said Lars Wagner, CEO of MTU Aero Engines, a key partner on the Pratt & Whitney engine program.
The GTF program has been suffering from contaminated powder metal introduced during the manufacture of certain PW1000G parts, driving a mandatory inspection program. Pratt initially projected wing-to-wing turnaround times of around 300 days, including time off wing as the engines wait to enter shops, owing to a dearth of available overhaul shop capacity, spare parts, and laborious engine disassembly and inspection process.
The less than 100-day shop-floor turnaround time (TAT) MTU is now seeing compares to 140-150 days earlier in the powder metal inspection program that began last September.
The improvement reflects MTU's focus on more streamlined workscopes as well as increased MRO capacity and greater availability of spare parts, the German manufacturer said. “While this is not the current standard TAT, it shows what can be done and we are headed in the right direction,” Wagner said Aug. 1 on the company’s half-year earnings call.
MTU also has set up a task force to identify cost and time savings in working on the PW1000G to be shared across the engine’s MRO network.
The numbers of aircraft that airlines have to park because of the issue peaked in the second quarter below the 650 units first expected owing to greater spare engine availability and aircraft fleet management, he noted.
MTU says customer settlements have been signed with 20 carriers representing about 65% of the affected fleet.
Broader supply chain challenges are showing signs of easing, leading to greater availability of spare parts. “However, supply still cannot keep pace with demand,” Wagner said. The tight market generates strong leasing business opportunities, he said, pointing to the company’s MLS operation.
MTU was bullish about its commercial aircraft business despite signs airlines are starting to see demand weakness. A shortage in MRO capacity means a slight softening of demand should not impact the engine-maker, CFO Peter Kameritsch said.
MTU said its highest revenue growth came in its military business, where first-half sales increased 19%, outpacing the group-wide increase of 9.6% which took revenues to €3.4 billion. Growth was driven by the A400M’s TP400-D6 engine and work on the engine for the Franco-German-Spanish future combat aircraft engine.
The Eurofighter Typhoon engine was the largest revenue generator and MTU said there is customer demand for accelerated deliveries, probably driving a need for greater engine output in the near term, Wagner said.
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