Pratt & Whitney’s PW4000 Advantage70 engine this week completed its first flight aboard an Air Comet A330-200 in Toulouse, France, the company announced yesterday. The first Advantage70 flight marks the beginning of a flight-test program scheduled to continue through early next month. Plans call for the first PW4000-100 engines with the Advantage70 technology upgrade, each of which deliver 70,000 pounds of thrust for the Airbus A330 aircraft family, to enter service in mid-2009.
Advantage70 technology upgrades deliver a 2-percent thrust increase, a 1-percent reduction in fuel consumption, increased durability and reduced maintenance costs, according to Pratt & Whitney. The A330-200 and A330-300 passenger aircraft will become the first to fly with Advantage70-equipped PW4000-100 engines. Those airplanes will be in service by the middle of this year with Air Comet and Air Caraibes, respectively.