new engine Engine manufacturers are ready to benefit from the hot market for new business aircraft and helicopters in the coming Technology decades. In addition to established manufacturers– by Thierry Dubois General Electric, Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney Canada, Rolls-Royce, Turbomeca and Williams–several new OEMs will be introducing their own models to the market. THE MARKET In the helicopter segment needs.” Generally speaking, “the can say; it is a cyclic industry de- alone, Rolls-Royce delivered 334 helicopter industry wants to bring pending heavily on corporate prof- New aircraft designs Model 250s last year and plans its safety record up to that of its and overall economic growth.” to deliver 400 this year. Tur- the airlines, which implies some Nonetheless, with its PW600 boost engine demand bomeca told AIN that it expects renewal of the world fleet of turbofan line powering three of the to deliver 930 helicopter engines rotorcraft,” he said. in-development VLJs–the Cessna Demand for lower fuel con- Williams, for example, told AIN this year, up from 650 last year, Rolls-Royce put a figure on its Citation Mustang, the Eclipse 500 sumption, more power and im- it delivered “more than 300 gen- when it delivered approximately predictions for the helicopter and the Embraer Phenom 100– proved reliability keeps engine eral aviation turbofans” last year 80 Makilas, 140 Arriuses and 430 manufacturers constantly renew- and plans to deliver “more than Arriels. “However, those figures ing their market offerings. Simul- 400” this year. Rolls-Royce also include some military applica- taneously, the growing number delivered high numbers of corpo- tions for our civil engines,” said of aircraft models on the market, rate aircraft engines, with 133 Charles Claveau, Turbomeca’s due to both the emergence of BR710s (for the Bombardier Glob- director of helicopter engine pro- the very light jet (VLJ) segment als and Gulfstream G500 series) grams. After deliveries of 40 CT7 and the numerous derivative de- and 56 Tay 611-8Cs (for the Gulf- turboshafts last year, GE is plan- signs aircraft makers are market- stream G350/450). GE delivered ning 42 for this year. ing, demands an ever expanding 76 CF34-3B engines for the Chal- range of engines. lenger 604 last year and expects Predictions for the Near Term In its business aviation outlook, to deliver the same number both What about market trends? Honeywell Aerospace forecast de- this year and next. “The helicopter market is gener- liveries of as many as 745 new P&WC, which did not separate ally in good shape. The market for business jets last year, up from engine deliveries by category, civil helicopters remains steady and may benefit from additional parapublic orders as a result of its P&WC PW615 high-profile roles in recent disas- ter-recovery operations; the high price of oil is also driving offshore market over the next three years: P&WC is looking forward to “rapid demand,” according to Rolls- “A flat but steady market, with 1 continued growth.” The PW600 Royce. GE’s Harry Nahatis, direc- percent growth per year or so.” will enter production early this year. tor of turboshaft engine sales, Competitor P&WC is experienc- According to Newtown, Conn.- agreed. “High oil prices are en- ing “a considerable upturn” in its based Forecast International, “Pratt couraging exploration by oil com- helicopter business, which has & Whitney will be the major bene- panies,” he pointed out. been “very strong” this year and factor of [the new VLJ] class of Turbomeca’s Claveau sees the is predicted to continue at this aircraft by providing its PW600 market growing until 2008 or 2009. rate of growth. series turbofan.” The market re- “We expect this year’s orders to For all three engine categories– search firm sees that category of equal those of last year. However, turbofan, turboprop and turboshaft– engines stimulating the turbofan GE CF34-3A-3B our increasing delivery numbers P&WC executives see an interna- engine market. are due to the market shares we tional market that is “buoyant “These engines, lumped into 589 in 2004. This year deliveries told AIN that it delivered “more earned, more than overall market again.” They note, “Most of our the 0- to 70-seat aircraft segment, are expected to exceed 800 for than 2,000 engines” last year. growth,” he said. He added that customers have healthy order will see a 50-percent increase in the first time in industry history. Of This year, it plans to double the demand is strong in emer- backlogs, so the market should production during the forecast pe- course, that translates into record post-9/11 production–a low of gency medical services and that show solid growth for at least the riod–from 1,997 in 2005 to 3,110 numbers of engine deliveries, too. 1,200 engines. “India and China have huge next few years. Beyond that, who in 2014,” said Aero Gas Turbine 34aaAviation International News • January 2006 • www.ainonline.com TURBOSHAFTS Analyst Will Alibrandi, author of a joint venture foresees annual tions. In this role it is expected to late-2004 study. sales of at least 200 VLJs. improve power margins by 10 per- Charles Blankenship, general In France, start-up company Engine manufacturers cent over the current TM333-2B2s. manager of GE’s small commer- Price Induction is striving to cial engine operation, sees “a ground-test its first 560-pound- bring new technology Clean-sheet Design steady to improving market vol- thrust turbofan, the DGEN 380, in from P&WC ume due to the expectation of a few weeks (see turbofan story P&WC is studying a new continued strong corporate per- page 38). The 12-employee enter- to helicopter market 1,000-shp-class engine, dubbed formance.” prise is aiming to enable the cre- Helicopter operators’ continu- Digital engine control, which the PW210S, for the 13,000- In stark contrast to the picture ation of a new class of light ous demand for more power, bet- Turbomeca envisions for the Ar- pound-class Sikorsky S-76D. At a decade ago, turboprops are fac- aircraft–in short, a Cirrus with tur- ter reliability and lower costs is riel 3, can improve reliability and last year’s HAI Convention, John spurring an infusion of new tech- lighten the maintenance burden. Saabas, P&WC engineering vice nology in turboshaft engines. All However, the design of a single- president, announced that the the manufacturers–General Elec- channel digitally controlled engine company is “starting with a tric (GE), Honeywell, Pratt & Whit- must address the possibility of fail- brand-new sheet of paper.” He ney Canada (P&WC), Rolls-Royce ure of the digital control. On such explained that the PW210S draws and Turbomeca–are developing a turboshaft, the hydromechanical on technologies and materials new models or conducting pre- unit therefore has to be able to proven in both the PW200 tur- liminary work to be ready as soon perform most of the control tasks. boshaft line and the emerging as the market requires a new en- A dual-channel full-authority PW600 series, of which the gine. In fact, the turboshaft ap- digital engine control (FADEC), PW615F for the Eclipse 500 is pears to be evolving faster than however, can be less complicated the first production engine. either the turboprop or turbofan. because the second channel is in- The PW210S will have a French-based Turbomeca, the dependent of the first one. As a higher pressure ratio compres- largest producer of civil helicopter result, the dual-channel FADEC sor–similar in design to that in the turboshaft engines, sees a new has an almost zero chance of fail- PW615F–and a higher-speed tur- trend in customer demand. “For ing completely. “A dual-channel bine with improved disc material Price Induction DGEN 380 three or four years, helicopter FADEC can be much simpler,” provided by P&WC’s Connecti- manufacturers have been asking Claveau said. Improved for economy and reliability rather maintenance comes Rolls-Royce Model 250 ing tough competition from small bofans. “P&WC’s PW600 line is than lightness and performance,” through including a turbofans and even, at the lower made for small business jets, Charles Claveau, director for heli- health and usage mon- end of the spectrum, from diesel whereas our engine will fit en- copter engine programs, told AIN. itoring system (HUMS) engines. However, according to hanced general aviation airplanes,” The result of this shift in em- in the FADEC. Forecast International, “As the re- Bernard Etcheparre, the com- phasis is increased operating mar- Turbomeca is also quirement for larger turboprop en- pany’s founder and CEO, told AIN. gins; in other words, the engine considering offering an gines grows, we can look forward Less capable than the Eclipse operates farther from its limits. In Arrius 3, a smaller ver- to manufacturers adapting other 500, Adam A700 and so on, such addition, the engines are more sion of the existing Ar- designs, particularly turbofans, for a light aircraft would also be less reliable and less fuel-thirsty, while rius. It would suit more turboprop variants.” Forecast In- expensive. The DGEN 380 will be component durability improves. powerful evolutions of ternational predicts that during suited for a 250-knot cruise speed As a result, “you can lose a bit of such light singles as the 2004 to 2013 time period, the and a 12,000-foot cruise altitude. performance,” Claveau explained. the Bell 206 and Euro- market for turboprop engines will “Instead of $200 to $250 million For example, the preliminary copter EC 120 and remain strong, with production of for a current VLJ, the aircraft’s design of the Arriel 3 (Turbomeca light twins such as the 9,538 engines worth $7.8 billion.