Washing Turbofans Pays Dividends For Carrier

Hawaiian Airlines may soon proudly tout it has the cleanest 767s in the business... or at least the cleanest engines. The airline announced this week it has extended a contract with Pratt & Whitney Global Service Partners to wash the engines on its 767 fleet for one year, through March 2009.

"We have been washing our engines with Pratt & Whitney's EcoPower wash service for almost two years and are very pleased with the results," said Charlie Nardello, vice president for maintenance engineering at Hawaiian Airlines. "We are thrilled with the improvements we have seen in terms of fuel savings and reduced emissions."

Pratt & Whitney says its closed-loop EcoPower engine washing process, which uses atomized water forced through the turbofan to remove carbon deposits and other accumulated debris, saves the airline $1 million a year in fuel costs, according to the Pacific Business News -- more than 2.8 million pounds of Jet-A.

Under the previous contract, Global Service Partners washed Hawaiian Airlines' fleet of 31 PW4060 engines, powering its Boeing 767 aircraft. The new contract also covers the airline's nine CF6-80A2 turbofans.

engine wash program improved Hawaiian's engine performance, allowing it to save as much as 2.8 million lbs. of fuel a year, or $1 million annually in fuel costs. The engine washes take place biannually at Los Angeles International Airport.

The engine washes occur every six months, at Los Angeles International Airport.

FMI: www.pratt-whitney.com, www.hawaiianair.com