Planned Entry Into Service Is 2013

Pratt & Whitney has completed assembly on its first PurePower PW1524G engine for the Bombardier CSeries aircraft and will deliver the engine to the company's West Palm Beach, FL, facility later this month to initiate testing. The engine Last Bolt Ceremony was held Wednesday at Pratt & Whitney's Middletown Engine Center in Connecticut. This engine marks the beginning of an eight-engine validation and certification program.

"We have worked closely with Pratt & Whitney engineers over the past two years to optimize engine performance as we integrated this powerplant into our airplane design," Benjamin Boehm, vice president, Commercial Aircraft Programs for Bombardier, told Pratt & Whitney employees at the Last Bolt Ceremony. "We are very pleased with the progress of the engine program to date and that Pratt & Whitney has completed first engine assembly on time."

"When we told the world that this engine would change everything, we meant it," said Bob Saia, vice president, Next Generation Product Family. "The completion of this first full PW1524G engine on time keeps the program on schedule to deliver its extraordinary benefits to customers in 2013. Earlier this year we completed our engine core test program, demonstrating performance and operability on our design targets. This engine will be tested to supplement the core testing, enabling us to demonstrate the full engine performance. Our engine is not a concept. It is real and we have data to validate our product capability."

Bombardier CSeries Artist's Rendering

The PW1500G engine test program will run a total of eight test engines over the next 24 months with engine certification and aircraft first flight scheduled for 2012. Entry into service is scheduled for 2013. Bombardier has sold CSeries aircraft to German flag carrier, Deutsche Lufthansa, Lease Corporation International and Republic Airways.

Pratt & Whitney recently concluded PurePower engine core testing with more than 260 accumulated test hours. In addition to the core testing, Pratt & Whitney has performed critical module-level testing for the PurePower engine program, including fan drive gear system testing with simulations of more than 60,000 takeoffs and landings, and hundreds of hours of testing on the low and high-pressure compressor with advanced designs meeting or exceeding efficiency and operability goals.

FMI: www.pratt-whitney.com