MRO 2008 Show News Briefing - April 7, 2008 - (Page 4)

ENGINES Reverse Engineering? Not at All, Says Finger, Hence the Term ‘OEMRO’ Pratt & Whitney’s plan to make replacement parts for the rival CFM56 engine achieved a major milestone last month with FAA supplemental type certification (STC) of fan disk, booster spool and fan shaft for the CFM56-3. STCs for the high-pressure compressor, high-pressure turbine and low-pressure turbine likely will be awarded by mid-year. By offering its own parts, P&W’s MRO shops can create value solutions for its cusSteve Finger. tomers. This year the company expects MRO to make up about 50% of its revenues, which totaled $12.1 billion in 2007. “Our MRO backlog is up 30% to $15 billion in 2007,” said P&W president Steve Finger. A growing amount of that is for CFM56 engines, and Finger expects that providing competitive—and, he says, sometimes better—parts is expected to increase that. P&W, Finger noted, has not reverseengineered the CFM56 parts but instead has developed them itself as if for its own engines. “Thus we bring OEM experience to MRO,” he said, which is why Pratt & Whitney has trademarked the term “OEMRO.” Pratt is also working on getting FAA parts manufacturing approval (PMA) on 29 gas path parts for the CFM56-3. It received its first, on the high pressure turbine shroud, last summer. All P&W’s CFM56 parts are expected to enter service later this year. United Airlines is the launch customer; others include Jet2.com and an unidentified carrier in China. Pratt & Whitney is at Booth 1901. GE to Double Brazil MRO Capability GE Aviation plans to double capacity at its Celma service center in Petropolis, Brazil, investing some $15 million to meet surging demand for airliner engine overhauls. Last year its business jumped 15-20% from 2006 as it overhauled some 250 CF6 and CFM56 engines. Its customer base includes several airlines in the region, including Gol, LAN, TAM (which has two OnPoint maintenance agreements: for 15 years on its CFM56-5B engines on 25 Airbus A320s that started service last year, and a seven-year OnPoint on its 12 CF6-80E engines on its A330 fleet) as well as customers from North America such as FedEx, Atlas Air and Southwest Airlines. LHT Boosts Engine Capacity by 25% Lufthansa Technik has slated next December 15 for the official opening of its dedicated CFM56 MRO shop in Hamburg. The $75 million expansion of its engine facilities will increase capacity for CFM56 overhauls there to at least 200-250 engines a year in a state of the art facility that will “industrialize” the MRO process with flow lines and lean practices. Lufthansa Technik estimates it will overhaul 900 engines a year of all types in its worldwide facilities when the new Hamburg shop and its N3 Engine venture with Rolls-Royce for Trents come up to speed. P&W Wins First With IAI for JT9D Kits Pratt & Whitney (Booth 1901) has a contract with Israel Aerospace Industries (Booth 721) for JT9D engine upgrades. The three-year deal covers new high-pressure compressor blades. The contract is worth more than $4 million for the initial purchase, and marks the first time a third-party engine shop has bought the JT9D upgrade kit. TAESL Celebrates Ten Years of MRO TAESL, the Texas Aero Engine Services LLC joint venture between American Airlines and Rolls-Royce, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The Fort Worth-based shop is the largest center in the world for RB211-535E4 overhauls; it also performs Trent 800 work, and shipped its 1,500th engine last year. It is currently working at a rate of 200 engines a year, with annual revenues of $650 million. About half of its work is now third party, including Continental, Delta, FedEx, UPS and US Airways. TAESL has a new website, www.taesl.com and is here at Booth 2125. Turkey Launches GE Scrap Reclamation Turkish Airlines is the first customer to participate in GE Aviation’s new scrap reclamation program, aimed at recycling hardware containing the rare and costly element rhenium. Customers will return their scrap high pressure turbine blades made from nickel superalloys with rhenium to GE. The material will be cleaned and melted for re-use in blade manufacturing. “The program helps our customer as well as GE Aviation’s material stream,” said GE Aviation supply chain vp Scott Ernest. The program will be carried out by Turkish T echnic, which is owned by Turkish Airlines and holds an ISO 14001 environmental management certificate. GE Aviation is at Booth 1115. April, 2008 4 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.taesl.com http://Jet2.com http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

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MRO 2008 Show News Briefing - April 7, 2008 Contents PBL and Partnerships Delta-Chromalloy PMA Reverse Engineering? Straighter, Rounder Regionals Buck the Trend Composites Loom Large Freighters and Cargo

MRO 2008 Show News Briefing - April 7, 2008

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