The first Pratt & Whitney (P&W) PW6000-powered A318 aircraft has been delivered to engine-launch customer LAN Airlines, and marked the powerplant’s entry into service on June 18. Based in Santiago, Chile, the operator has ordered 44 engines and taken options on a further 41 units.

The 18,000- to 24,000-pound-thrust PW6000 is designed to provide the lowest total cost of ownership for the 100-seat airliner market. P&W claims it offers better reliability and longer on-wing time in high-cycle, single-aisle operations.

The manufacturer is actively engaged in finding additional customers for PW6000-powered A318s and the related A318 Elite derivative business jet.

The PW6000, which had a troubled gestation and saw a number of customers opt for alternative engine suppliers after an early program delay, is produced in partnership with Germany’s MTU Aero Engines and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan. MTU produces the PW6000’s high-pressure compressor and low-pressure turbine and provides production assembly and MRO services. MHI provides the engine’s diffuser module.

There are more than 17,000 aircraft engines in service with hundreds of airlines, according to P&W, which also is a leading partner in two other commercial-aircraft engine joint-venture companies: with Rolls-Royce in International Aero Engines, which makes the V2500 for the Airbus A320 family of aircraft, and with General Electric in the Engine Alliance, whose GP7200 engine competes against the Rolls Trent to power the Airbus A380 very-large airliner.