RZESZOW, Poland—EME Aero, the Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan (GTF) engine MRO joint venture between Lufthansa Technik and MTU Aero Engines, has grown capacity at its site in Poland with the entry into service of a second test cell.
Delegates from both joint venture parties were present at a ceremony held at Jasionka, near the city of Rzeszow in southeastern Poland, June 30 for the unveiling of the second chamber.
The expansion follows an investment of more than $37 million into the test cell. The facility is targeting more than 500 GTF engine inductions per year—comprised of PW1100G, PW1500G and PW1900G variants—from 2028 onward. EME Aero undertakes disassembly, assembly and testing of the engines at the facility.
After starting construction in 2023, the first engine arrived at the shop in May and correlation was successfully completed. Like the first tell cell, the second has test capacity for up to 60,000 lb. of thrust.
“We’ll double capacity and with the second test cell, we can also be more flexible, and we can distribute the load of engines to be tested equally on both test cells,” said Anneke Tröller, managing director of operations and COO of EME Aero. Troller added that targeting 500 engine inductions annually wouldn’t have been possible with just one test cell given the length of time it takes to test engines. Currently, these range anything from 8-20 hours for a GTF depending on the engine type, she added.
Robert Maslach, CEO of EME Aero, said being part of the GTF network sees the company receive engines from Pratt & Whitney when they are brought off-wing from most parts of the world. He added that the company looks to balance the engine types it receives in terms of thrust across the PW1100G, PW1500G and PW1900G models, striving for a 50-50 split of available thrust options.
The EME Aero facility started operating with services for the PW1100G-JM, for Airbus A320neo aircraft, in December 2019 and completed its first series of shop visits the following year. In 2022, it added PW1500G engine services, the engine type for the A220 narrowbody, before following with, the PW1900G, specifically designed for the Embraer E190-E2 and E195-E2 aircraft, in 2023.
Following the Paris Air Show, which saw several high-profile orders placed for the GTF engine family, Pratt & Whitney said it has more than 12,000 GTF engine orders and commitments placed by more than 90 customers globally to date.
Related Content
