Turbofan Entered Service On Emirates Plane In August

The entry into service for the Engine Alliance GP7200 on the Airbus A380 has been "flawless," according to Engine Alliance President Jim Moravecek.

"Its performance has been predictable and consistent with the extensive development and service readiness endurance testing we've been performing all along," he said, "and we plan to keep on testing the engine even beyond our entry into service with Air France next year."

" Since entering revenue service on the first Emirates A380 on August 1st, we've experienced no engine related issues that could have caused a disruption for Emirates," Engine Alliance Product Support Director Ed Bendernagel said. "The engines have performed as well, if not better, than we expected," Bendernagel said. "But the real story is the fuel efficiency."

Airbus has touted the relative fuel efficiency of its flagship A380 superjumbo. Engine Alliance adds its GP7200 engine offers the lowest fuel consumption available on the aircraft. With the rising cost of fuel, it's an important consideration for airlines.

"Our GP7200 engines will save us over 500,000 liters of fuel per aircraft per year," Emirates CEO Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum said at the A380 delivery ceremony in Hamburg.

In addition to low fuel burn, Emirates mechanics were surprised to discover their GP7200-powered A380 burns almost no oil. "They were actually a bit concerned at first," Bendernagel said, "because this engine just doesn't burn any oil. It's really just a result of our robust oil system design."

The Engine Alliance GP7200 is derived from two successful widebody engine programs, the GE90 and the PW4000. The GP7200 is manufactured at GE and Pratt & Whitney, with GE assembling the core and Pratt & Whitney manufacturing the fan module, low pressure compressor and low pressure turbine. Final engine assembly is conducted at Pratt & Whitney’s Engine Center in Middletown, CT.

FMI: www.enginealliance.com, www.airbus.com, www.emirates.com/usa