Pratt & Whitney is confident that its assumptions around PW1000G geared turbofan (GTF) production and expedited parts inspections for the in-service fleet remain accurate, putting the company on pace to meet demand for new aircraft and improve turnaround times on engines undergoing mandatory service.
Speaking on parent RTX’s second quarter (Q2) earnings call, company executives acknowledged that GTF deliveries to Airbus are lagging due to a variety of factors. But a ramp-up in overall production backed by a parallel increase in output of key parts has Pratt on pace to meet Airbus’ recently revised output targets.
“We’re not necessarily where we need to be with Airbus,” RTX President Chris Calio said. “But we’re seeing strong growth sequentially and year-over-year. And our outlook reflects our assessment of where Airbus needs support from us, and we’re aligned on what they need.”
Pratt delivered 236 large engines in Q2, a slight increase from the first quarter’s 232. The pace is solidly ahead of 2023’s first half total of 332 and full-year total of 875. It does not break out variants, but most of its large-engine deliveries are GTFs that power some A320neos and all A220s and Embraer E2s.
Key to Pratt’s new-production ramp is availability of parts—particularly structural castings and isothermal forgings. Calio said castings supply, an issue for nearly a decade, was up 5% sequentially in the quarter and while steadily improving, needs to climb more quickly.
“It needs to be higher than that, in order to continue to meet” demand for both new engine production and aftermarket supply, Calio said.
Supply of forged parts is growing more quickly—part of Pratt’s plan to address the inspection mandates.
“Isothermal forgings were up almost 100% year-over-year, and we continue to add additional capacity for inspection and machining,” two key parts of the production process, Calio said.
Forged parts made with contaminated powder metal (PM) are at the center of the inspection mandate. Unscheduled removals began last September—roughly 300 days ago for mandatory inspections based on an engine’s cycles. The lack of available shop capacity, spare parts, and the laborious engine disassembly and inspection process meant Pratt initially projected wing-to-wing turn times of around 300 days. Engines are coming back within that window, Calio confirmed, adding that as parts production ramps up, turn times should drop.
“The key enabler on MRO output is material,” he said. “In the shop when we’ve got material flowing ... we are seeing significant reduction in shop turnaround time, both our shops and our partners.”
Pratt only recently began producing enough full-life parts to outfit all engines going to manufacturers as well as spare engines. Calio suggested that Pratt will not be able to supply full-life new parts for overhauls for several years.
“MRO was always a phased ramp-up,” he said. “We’ll start to see this ramp up here in the second half of the year, and it’s going to continue to accelerate into 2025 and into 2026.”
Pratt and its MRO providers are evaluating each engine to determine the best way to allocate the new parts, which eliminates the need for follow-up inspections at shorter intervals than the normal maintenance schedule lays out.
“When an engine comes into the shop for a visit, we do an evaluation based on the work scope it needs, where it operates, when it was naturally going to see another shop visit to determine whether or not insertion of those parts makes sense,” Calio said.
The general stability of the PM inspection process means the number of aircraft on the ground (AOG) awaiting engines has remained relatively steady for months at about 670. Many, but not all, are out of service because of the PM issue. Pratt expects the figure to edge downward as more engines return from the initial tranche of visits and turnaround times improve.
“We’re encouraged by what we’re seeing when the material is there, which is why we’re so heavily focused on making sure the supply chain is healthy,” Calio said. Forgings and castings “are the things that are going to be the biggest unlock for us as we take the AOG numbers down and support our customers.”
Meanwhile, V2500 overhauls are climbing as both parts availability and workscopes increase and demand for narrowbody lift, constrained by new-aircraft delivery delays and the GTF issues, remains strong. Pratt allocated more forging capability to GTF parts to support the PM fleet management plan, cutting into V2500 spares production and related overhaul throughput potential. But the venerable legacy engine will get more attention in the second half of the year.
Pratt and its partners saw 369 V2500 shop inductions through mid-year and remain on track to hit 800 in 2024, RTX CFO Neil Mitchill said.
“With that acceleration, not only are we seeing an increase in the number of shop visits in the second half of the year, we’re also seeing more work scope. So these are heavier overhauls.”
Pratt’s commercial aftermarket revenue was up 15% in Q2. The V2500 uptick will play a key role in continued strong commercial aftermarket growth, Mitchill said.
“The second-half story for Pratt’s operating outlook is really focused around what we call the mature commercial engines, the V2500 being the biggest part of that,” Mitchill said.
