First Pratt & Whitney GTF engine to be overhauled in South East Asia
Romain Guillot
 le 16/01/2019 , Maintenance aéronautique
This is a major new step for Pratt & Whitney's geared turbofan engine family (GTF). Eagle Services Asia (ESA), the joint venture formed by the engine manufacturer and the MRO division of Singapore Airlines (SIAEC) inducted a PW1100G-JM (Airbus A320neo) for overhaul for the first time. This is a first for this type of engine in South East Asia.
After initially specialising in 1998 to meeting the needs of PW4000 operators in the Asia-Pacific region, Eagle Services Asia recently extended its capacities to Engine Alliance's GP7200 engines (Airbus A380), in particular for low pressure compressor maintenance, in order to be be able to provide complete maintenance for this type of jet engine from last February.
But ESA has also invested nearly 85 million dollars (74 million Euro) to upgrade and modernize its facilities to be able to develop its PW1100G-JM maintenance capabilities. The engine shop upgrade required the purchase of new tooling, advanced capabilities and machinery. What's more, this year Eagle Services Asia will be putting new provisions in place for its GTF overhaul line with the introduction of a new ground-based flow system, which will enable visual line of sight on the GTF engine overhaul line. Each engine modules will move from one station to another, improving the visibility of operations through the line from disassembly to assembly and test, in contrast to the old engine repair repair work bay/
This method, which is inspired by the automotive industry and which improves productivity while maximising the use of existing space, will enable up to six GTF engines to be accommodated once full capacity is reached.
In addition, Pratt & Whitney has indicated that Eagle Services Asia had also modified one of its two test benches for it to be able to host GTFs.
The arrival of the first PW1100G-JM for servicing in Singapore marks an important step for the support network for this type of A320neo family engine. Until now, the GTF MRO network only featured Pratt & Whitney itself, MTU Aero Engines, Japanese Aero Engines Corporation (JAEC), Lufthansa Technik and Delta TechOps. Pratt & Whitney's GTF family of engines is already powering over 300 aircraft in service.
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