Engine Alliance is building the case for introducing further improvements to its GP7200 engine, which powers around half the Airbus A380 fleet, with the main aim being to improve mission fuel burn. Among the items that could form part of an upgrade kit are an active clearance control system and a high-pressure turbine durability upgrade. If confirmed, they would be available both for new production and for aftermarket upgrade.

“We’re looking at lots of ideas for things such as optimizing the shroud grinds and improved cooling air flow,” Engine Alliance president Dean Athans told AIN. He indicated that the company, a joint venture between Pratt & Whitney and General Electric, and might be ready to introduce the upgrade kit this coming fall.

The U.S.-based group’s engineering team has built a GP7200 engine with the new high-pressure turbine configuration and in May started testing for 2,500 endurance cycles at temperatures that will simulate 3,500 cycles. The tests will also feature a dust rig to analyze how the turbofan handles dust ingestion–a significant concern for operators based in the Middle East.

“We have achieved world class reliability with the engine since it entered service in 2008, but we are still maturing the product” said Athans. “For specifications such as engine weight and fuel burn we are better than expected and we have saved operators millions [of dollars] in fuel burn compared with the competitor [Rolls-Royce Trent 900].”

However, previous upgrades introduced on the GP7200 did increase the maintenance burden for the engine and since 2014 Engine Alliance (Hall 5 D232) has been working on a plan to reduce this. “We’re not where we want to be on the fleet-wide maintenance burden but we established a baseline [for what it should be] and we are committed to meeting that,” concluded Athans.