Engine Alliance GP7200

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The Engine Alliance GP7200 is a new turbofan jet engine that will incorporate advanced technologies of proven wide-body products, originally from the world's No.1 and No.3 aero-engine manufacturers, GE Aircraft Engines and Pratt & Whitney, but now to also include Snecma Moteurs of France (a CFM International partner with GE), who has recently joined the GP7200 program. Snecma has 20 percent of General Electric’s share of the GP7200 engine program, or 10% as a whole.

Originally intended to power Boeing Commercial Airplanes' cancelled 747X, the engine has since been pushed for Airbus' A380-800 superjumbo. It is built on the GE90 core and the PW4000 low-pressure system.

The competing Rolls-Royce plc Trent 900 was named as the lead engine for the then-named A3XX in 1996 and was initially selected by almost all A380 customers. However the GE/PW engine increased its share of the A380 engine market to the point where it will now power 48% of the super-jumbo fleet. This disparity in sales was resolved in a single transaction, with Emirates' order of 45 GP7200 powered A380-800s, comprising over one third of A380 sales (as of 2005.) Emirates has traditionally been a Rolls-Royce customer. A380 aircraft powered by the GP7200s will have A380-86X model numbers as 6 is the code for Engine Alliance engines.

Ground testing of the engine began in April 2004 and the engine was run for the first time on an A380 on August 14, 2006. ^[1] The Federal Aviation Administration certified the engine for commercial operation on January 4, 2006. ^[2] On August 25, 2006, an A380-861 test aircraft (MSN 009) made the first flight of an Engine Alliance powered A380. The flight began and ended at Toulouse and lasted about four hours. Tests were performed on the engines flight envelope, cruise speed, and handling. A day earlier, the same aircraft performed rejected takeoff tests on the engines.

[edit] Major customers

[edit] GP7270 Characteristics

General characteristics

Type: two-spool turbofan engine
Length: 474cm (187in)
Diameter: 316cm (124in), fan tip 295cm (116in)
Dry weight: 6712kg (14,798lbs)

Components

Compressor: hollow-titanium, 24 swept wide-chord hollow titanium fan blades, by-pass ratio of 8.7:1; five-stage low-pressure axial compressor; nine-stage high-pressure axial compressor
Combustors: low-emissions single annular combustor
Turbine: two-stage high pressure turbine, boltless architecture, single crystal blades, split blade cooling and thermal barrier coatings, axial flow; six-stage low-pressure axial flow