TAMPA—Lower-than-expected reliability levels in the newest generation of single-aisle airliner engines have become so costly to correct that they are threatening to eclipse the fuel cost benefits of the more modern powerplants.
“Reliability levels for next generation engines and an increasing shop visit forecast indicates the problems of today are unlikely to moderate in the near term,” says Chris Celtruda, CEO of engine repair specialist Chromalloy. “In fact, the fuel burn savings of the next generation power plants may never offset the decreased reliability of shorter service intervals relative to the current midlife engines.”
Celtruda, speaking at Aviation Week’s AeroEngines Americas conference, says “higher pressure ratios and temperatures are hard on turbine parts. I don’t know if we’ll see 20,000 cycles of reliability in service for these next generation engines.”
Focusing particularly on the powerplants for the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX, Celtruda says “cost issues with entry into service of [CFM International] Leap-1 and [Pratt & Whitney PW1000G] geared turbofan [GTF] has driven early removals and a series of retrofits and upgrades, all of which consume shop visits and supply chain capacity.”
Celtruda’s comments come as both CFM and Pratt continue efforts to improve the durability of their latest engines. CFM is midway through a multi-year improvement roadmap incorporating additional hardware and software upgrades set to be rolled into the program through 2030. CFM says retrofit programs have already seen time on wing for low-thrust Leap-1As in harsh environments grow from around 1.5 years to the first shop visit to around four years, or approximately 8,000 cycles.
For engines operating in neutral environments, the durability kit has resulted in a 1.5X increase in time-on-wing, with engines achieving around 17,000 cycles or eight years in service before their first shop visit compared to around six years for the pre-durability upgrade standard.
Pratt faces even greater challenges as it strives to reduce the number of A320neos parked on the ground (AOG) due to GTF issues, while simultaneously delivering initial shipsets of the improved GTF Advantage PW1100G versions to Airbus, as well as begin deliveries of the related hot section-plus upgrade kits to maintenance, repair and overhaul sites.
Speaking at the recent Singapore airshow, Rick Deurloo, president of Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines, says the number of A320neo AOGs is now reduced by around 20% compared to its peak of more than 700, and the situation “will continue on for a couple years. We know that’s not going away at the end of 2026, but I think a lot depends on our execution this year and where we end up next year as well. We feel confident by the end of this decade, we’re going to be in more of a normalized state.”
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