Advanced Repair Development Highlights Pratt & Whitney MRO Investments

ORLANDO, Florida—Pratt & Whitney has unveiled its latest round of aftermarket support-strengthening investments, including a push to bolster additive manufacturing repair development on engine cases at its Propulsion Systems Division (PSD) in Springdale, Arkansas.

PSD, which specializes in engine case repairs across Pratt & Whitney’s commercial and military engine product line, will add 7,000 ft.² to its footprint. As part of the expansion, Pratt & Whitney plans to ramp up its additive manufacturing repair development efforts, starting with PW1000G geared turbofan (GTF) cases, Pratt & Whitney VP Aftermarket Operations-North America Hamish Guthrie told Aviation Week.

“Cases on the engine are very, very critical components for us,” Guthrie said on the first day of Aviation Week’s MRO Americas. “We have a long history of case repair at PSD. We have very, very deep technical capability at that facility. That is a huge factor in how we’re able to bring additive repair to the marketplace and find new ways of repairing components that previously you may have scrapped off. That’s only really possible when you’re leveraging decades of experience of case repair.”

While the additive repairs are slated to start on the PW1000G line, Guthrie said it could expand to other products, including both military engines and legacy commercial powerplants.

“Having a center of excellence when it comes to case repair, as an example, is tremendously beneficial,” he said.

The Springdale investment is part of a $100 million wave of support going to three U.S. sites that boost capacity, add inventory and support advanced repair development.

Pratt & Whitney also will spend $78 million on a new, 500,000 ft.² facility in Irving, Texas, that will focus on used serviceable material (USM) acquisition and sales. The move will boost Pratt & Whitney’s USM inventory by 60%, the company said.

Pratt & Whitney’s West Palm Beach, Fla., Engine Center will boost capacity by 40% via a 50,000 ft.² expansion. The new space will help the company meet rising PW1000G overhaul demand. West Palm will also house equipment for engine assembly and disassembly, machining, testing, cleaning and warehousing, Pratt & Whitney said.

“These investments demonstrate Pratt & Whitney’s continued commitment to lifting our airline customers’ GTF fleets,” said Rob Griffiths, senior vice president, Commercial Engines Operations. “Across these three U.S. facilities, we are investing to increase throughput of GTF engines and parts, adding repair capabilities and deploying new technologies to return engines to our customers as quickly as possible.”

Adding overhaul capacity is a key part of Pratt & Whitney’s strategy to minimize disruptions linked to the PW1000G powder metal contamination issue that has idled hundreds of aircraft while engines undergo required inspections. Groundings still number more than 400—the company does not disclose exact figures—but these are slowly coming down as engines move through shops more quickly and capacity is added.

“We expect this downward trend to continue,” RTX President Chris Calio said on an April 21 earnings call. “The key enabler of this reduction is MRO output, which was up 23% year-over-year for the PW1100, on top of the 35% growth we saw in [the first quarter] of last year.”

The latest investments follow the recent $70 million MRO-focused expansion at Pratt & Whitney’s Columbus Engine Center in Georgia, which added new machinery and bolstered the PW1000G overhaul facility’s capacity 25%.