Pratt & Whitney considers itself well positioned for the introduction of the PW1000G PurePower geared turbofan into revenue service in Asia, with the company having established aftermarket capability in several locations to support a backlog of some 2,000 engines in that region alone. Speaking with AIN just before the start of the Singapore Airshow, Pratt & Whitney commercial engines aftermarket vice-president Liping Xie stressed the importance of the OEM’s 90 years of experience in the aftermarket business and the volume of engines it already supports.

“Since 2000 we have overhauled over 10,000 engines within our system, so that’s a lot of experience on which we can draw best practices,” he said. “We also have very strong engineering capabilities, so in the aftermarket we leverage those capabilities for repair development. In terms of cost reduction, that’s a huge differentiator for our airline customers.”

Xie also talked about the company’s emphasis on so-called big data, and its ability to use the information to better predict maintenance requirements and, thereby, extend time-on-wing and improve reliability for its customers.

Pratt maintains a global operations center in East Hartford, Connecticut, that continuously monitors fleet status and collects live data, around the clock, to provide technical feedback to customers and manage logistical arrangements. Meanwhile, a group of employees works solely on fleet management programs, under which the customer pays by the hour and the OEM takes responsibility for maintenance planning. “Experience has told us that the engines under that program we were able to deliver better reliability and also longer on-wing time,” said Xie.

The Pratt executive emphasized the importance of China, India and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole, where some 28 percent of its total backlog of PW1000Gs resides, making it a “huge focus” for the campaign. In fact, of the company’s roughly 5,000 employees at its 15 repair and overhaul centers around the globe, 3,000 work in the Asia Pacific region.

In Singapore, Eagle Services Asia–a joint venture between Pratt & Whitney and Singapore Airlines Engineering Company–specializes in PW4000 work and is the first designated engine center for the PurePower family.

A Pratt partnership with Air New Zealand in Christchurch, called Christchurch Engine Center, will specialize in PW1100G work for A320neos, while a joint venture with China Eastern Airlines in Shanghai specializes in CFM56 engines. Pratt also considers its partnership with Turkish Technik in Istanbul as part of the network that supports the Asia Pacific region.

Singapore ‘Center of Gravity’

Separately, two-thirds of Pratt & Whitney’s customer training capacity resides in the region, namely a center in Beijing and another in Hyderabad, India. The Hyderabad center opened just last September and already carries the capacity to train the equivalent of 2,000 students in a one-week class per year. Eventually, Pratt expects capacity at the facility to double.

In China, United Technologies Far East and China Aviation Supplies (CAS) Holding Company just renewed a 10-year-old joint venture supporting Pratt’s Beijing training center for another 15 years. That campus has trained some 14,000 students based in China, Russia, Singapore, Thailand and Korea on Pratt & Whitney and IAE V2500 engines.   

While much of the company’s aftermarket focus centers on preparing for the geared turbofan, the most ubiquitous engine type in the region for Pratt’s aftermarket services remains the V2500, some 6,000 of which operate around the world, said Xie. Averaging some seven years old, those engines in many cases will operate for another two decades at least, meaning they still account for a huge piece of the company’s activity well into the future. 

“The V2500 has by far the largest installed base, both globally and in the region, so that’s clearly a key focus for aftermarket,” he noted. “It’s still a relatively young fleet, and some of the Vs haven’t even seen their first shop visit yet...I believe for the next 10 to 15 years the V fleet will still be one of the main profit drivers for the aftermarket.”

Xie said he expects a “seamless” transition from V2500 work to geared turbofans over that period due to its strong relationships with design partners MTU of Germany and JAEC of Japan, both of which have supported V2500s for several years. Pratt has worked with those OEM partners for some two years to help them understand parts requirements, logistics flow and other processes involved in the transition to geared turbofan support.

“These people know the engines very well, just like, to some extent, Pratt & Whitney,” said Xie. “We really want to leverage that advantage and use that to support our initial wave of customers first.”

In terms of concentration of MRO work Pratt performs, Xie said Singapore remains a sort of  “center of gravity” for the region. Some 2,000 people work at what Xie characterized as four or five very important repair facilities on the island and form the hub of a network including shops in New Zealand, China and Turkey. “We have excellent people [who are] very well trained, very disciplined, process oriented, English-speaking, with a long history in maintenance practice, so [Singapore] will continue to be the center of gravity in terms of MRO activities,” said Xie.