Engines
Pratt & Whitney Nears the End of the GTF Saga
Its next-generation engine program reverses course
Airbus A220
Pratt & Whitney's PW1500G powers the Airbus A220, one of the GTF variants whose durability troubles the engine maker now says it is close to putting behind it.

Ten years into the seemingly endless technical issues with its “PurePower” Geared Turbofan (GTF), Pratt & Whitney says it is finally ready to put the engine behind it. At the same time, it is turning to a next-generation design built on the technology it once dismissed as its rivals’.

The East Hartford, Connecticut-based engine maker has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in building, expanding, and licensing maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facilities to address durability problems that have plagued the GTF, primarily on the Airbus A320neo family. Similar issues emerged on the Airbus A220 and Embraer E195-E2, which use a smaller version of the engine. The latest upset was due to production powder contamination at the supplier level. At the peak, around 650 GTF-powered A320neos were grounded.