Vietnam Airlines Takes Delivery of First Airbus A321neo Aircraft Powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF™ Engines

HAMBURG, Germany, Nov. 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) and Vietnam Airlines celebrated delivery of the airline's first Airbus A321neo aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF™ engines.  Vietnam Airlines is leasing the aircraft from Aviation Capital Group (ACG).  The airline announced selection of the GTF engine to power 20 A321neo aircraft in November 2017.  The delivery was celebrated at a ceremony in Hamburg, Germany with Vietnam Airlines, Airbus, ACG and Pratt & Whitney officials in attendance.  

"Vietnam Airlines appreciates Airbus A321neo for its exceptional operational performance with new engine and technology saving up to 20 percent fuel burn," said Dương Trí Thành, president and CEO at Vietnam Airlines. "We are confident that the Airbus A321neo fleet, powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF engines, will further deliver the highest level of passenger comfort on our growing domestic and regional routes in Vietnam and Asia."

Pratt & Whitney and Vietnam Airlines share a long history dating back to the early 1990s when the airline received its first PW4000-powered 767.  Today, the airline's fleet consists of 57 V2500®-powered A320ceo aircraft and 2 PW4170-powered A330 aircraft.  With the addition of the A321neo aircraft, Vietnam Airlines plans to continue their growth in the region.

"New aircraft deliveries are a special milestone, and we are elated to see Vietnam Airlines take delivery of their first A321neo," said Rick Deurloo, senior vice president of sales, marketing and customer support at Pratt & Whitney. "Vietnam Airlines' transition to industry-leading GTF technology is a significant testament of their commitment to growth in the region, with environmental consciousness at top of mind."  

Since entering into service in early 2016, the GTF engine has demonstrated its promised ability to reduce fuel burn by 16 percent, to reduce NOx emissions by 50 percent to the regulatory standard and to lower the noise footprint by 75 percent.

How Much Data Does a GTF Jet Engine Generate?

When Pratt & Whitney debuted its seminal R-1340 Wasp engine in 1925, there was plenty to be anxious about. The engine marked the fledgling company’s first foray into the aviation industry. It featured a radical but unproven new crankshaft and master rod design aimed at generating greater thrust while keeping weight to a comparably low 650 pounds. But with all this, there was one thing that probably didn’t weigh too heavily on anyone’s mind: What to do with the tremendous volume of data generated by the Wasp, or more accurately, the lack thereof. 

While telemetry has always played a pivotal role in aviation, the volume of data it used to collect was relatively small. The original Wasp had gauges for things like horsepower and fuel level, but not a whole lot more. Fast forward 75 years to the PW6000 and the beginnings of a more data-driven future start to take form, with a little fewer than 100 sensors deployed on each engine. Go just a little further to the Pratt & Whitney GTF™ engine and it becomes clear that a paradigm shift is underway.

The GTF engine incorporates 40 percent more sensors than the V2500® engine, and can generate approximately 4 million data points per engine per flight, enabling significant improvements in addressing unplanned maintenance.

That amount of telemetry would have overwhelmed the engineers and operators of the original Wasp, but today, a host of powerful analytics solutions enable stakeholders to effectively manage and leverage data  to optimize operations and drive smarter decision making.

Pratt & Whitney introduced their EngineWise™ services brand in 2017. Under the EngineWise portfolio, Pratt & Whitney is investing in data acquisition and predictive analytics tools that enable both operators and Pratt & Whitney to make recommendations that reduce operational disruptions and increase engine availability.  Pratt & Whitney’s ADEM™ (Advanced Diagnostics and Engine Monitoring) service and eFAST™ (enhanced flight data acquisition, storage and transmission) ecosystem are two examples of capabilities and investment under our EngineWise portfolio of services.  

ADEM is an engine health management service that employes a suite of web-enabled software tools that provide expert analysis of engine health data for more than 8,000 engines in service.  The eFAST ecosystem is enabling Pratt & Whitney’s next generation engine health management capabilities and includes a highly secured acquisition, storage and transmission infrastructure that is capable of accessing and recording aircraft and engine full-flight data, generating reports based on recorded data and offloading data and reports to a remote ground station. Together, these tools not only ensure the speedy delivery of vast datasets from the air to the ground, but also enable airlines to crunch numbers at a scale previously unimaginable.

Through EngineWise, Pratt & Whitney is focused on enhancing the customer experience with their products. The company is excited to see how their digital technologies investment and capability enhancements are producing real results today and look forward to working with their customers to develop solutions tailored to their needs.

Air Transat Selects Pratt & Whitney GTF™ Engines to Power 17 A321neo Family Aircraft from AerCap

FARNBOROUGH, England, July 18, 2018/PRNewswire/ -- Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), and Air Transat today announced the selection of Pratt & Whitney GTF engines to power 17 firm-order A321neo family aircraft: 2 A321neo and 15 long-range A321LR aircraft, the latest variant of the A321neo. All aircraft will be leased from AerCap. This follows the Air Transat announcements in 2017 and 2018 stating its agreements with AerCap for a long-term leasing arrangement. Aircraft deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2019.

"We're thrilled for Air Transat and grateful for the confidence they're placing in the GTF engine," said Rick Deurloo, senior vice president of sales, marketing and customer support at Pratt & Whitney. "Our history with Air Transat goes back to the JT8D-powered Boeing 727. Together with AerCap, we're building a great relationship that will allow Air Transat to enjoy the full benefits of the GTF."

Since entering into service in early 2016, the GTF engine for the A320neo family aircraft has demonstrated its promised ability to reduce fuel burn by 16 percent, to reduce NOx emissions by 50 percent to the regulatory standard and to lower the noise footprint by 75 percent.