Pratt & Whitney Finds Easy Fixes For India's Geared Turbofans As Engine Production Ramps Up

You could say that Pratt & Whitney's geared turbofan engine is a victim of its own success. Customers such as Lufthansa and Delta ordered 8,000 of the revolutionary engines before the United Technologies unit had commenced high-rate production. Since all new engines require tweaks and adjustments during the first million hours of flight operations -- known in aviation circles as the "entry-into-service phase" -- it was inevitable there would be issues somewhere.


India turns out to be that place, because airlines there operate 40% of the all the Airbus A320neos currently equipped with geared turbofans. As early adopters of breakthrough propulsion technology, locally-owned airlines IndiGo and GoAir are already realizing big reductions in fuel costs (16% on average), greenhouse gas emissions (50%), and noise levels (75%).

Those gains make the Indian carriers more competitive because greater fuel efficiency enables planes to fly farther or carry more passengers, while lower noise levels allow the carriers to originate more flights over longer hours at airports near built-up areas. And it certainly doesn't hurt the airlines' images that their new engines generate a ton less climate-warming carbon dioxide than conventional turbofans for every hour of flight time.

But one consequence of adopting "disruptive" engine technology the Indian carriers didn't anticipate was that minor startup problems with the new engines would force them to keep some of their A320s on the ground rather than in the air generating revenues. The problems really are minor -- premature wear in two engine parts that is easily remedied -- but without a lot of spare engines to substitute on aircraft wings while fixes are made at repair shops, some planes have had to sit on the tarmac.

India's famously aggressive press has investigated every facet of the issue, including offering some fanciful speculation, and the country's civil aviation authority has ordered accelerated safety inspections. There doesn't seem to be a safety issue though, because the geared turbofan's advanced diagnostic system identifies engine issues long before they can affect performance. But the Indian market is crucially important to the new engine's success, so Pratt experts are all over the problems.

It's not as though India is a new experience for Pratt or corporate parent United Technologies Corporation (a contributor to my think tank). UTC's Otis unit sold its first elevator in India in 1898. Its Carrier unit began selling air conditioners there in 1930. And Pratt provided engines for Air India's first 707 jetliner in 1960. But India is a different place now than it was back then, possibly on its way to becoming the world's biggest economy. Therefore, Pratt & Whitney is sparing no expense to fix its IndiGo and GoAir engines fast.

Fortunately, the fixes look to be a fairly simple affair. The company has already implemented an interim fix on the #3 oil seal that was wearing out faster than expected, and expects to have that issue fully retired within months. As one company exec observed to me, "this isn't rocket science -- it's just a carbon seal." The other item that is wearing out too fast is called a combustor, and it appears that issue can be resolved by drilling more holes into the part to increase the flow of cooling air.