Have Engine OEMs Got The Message in Rio?

Top management of the three big engine OEMs must be leaving the IATA AGM in Rio de Janeiro with a bad feeling. They have been grilled for underdelivering and overcharging airlines for engines that have proved to be defective and not as durable as promised. Did they get the message? We have written about the issues many, many times before. Rolls-Royce encountered durability issues on the Trent 1000 on the Boeing 787 in 2016, followed a few years later by those on the Trent 7000 on the Airbus A330neo and – to a lesser extent – the XWB-84 and -97 on the A350. Pratt & Whitney brought an engine to market in 2016 that was reliable but not durable: the Geared Turbofan. When contaminated powder metal became a serious issue in 2023, and hundreds of PW1100G-JMs, PW1500Gs and PW1900Gs needed lengthy repairs, the scandal was evident. CFM’s LEAP-1A and -1B aren’t immune either to durability problems, and that also applies to GE Aerospace’s GEnx and yet-to-enter-service GE9X. The “issues” have cost engine OEMs billions in compensation to airlines, but they prefer usable aircraft over grounded ones that often have to wait for over a year before the modified engines get back under the wings. Fuss So what was the fuss about in Rio? Actually, it started last week in Miami during the World Aviation Festival, when airline CEOs vented their frustrations, as reported by Aviation Week. Alexis von Hoensbroech, CEO of Canada’s WestJet, accused the engine makers for bringing a product to market that isn’t mature, then making good money on the necessary repairs. “It’s a great business model”, he said, not without cynicism. Indeed, engine OEMs have reported strong after-sales and services. GE’s commercial services orders were up 49 percent year-over-year in Q1, spare part orders up 30 percent since March. Internal shop visits of the CFM LEAP grew 50 percent. At RTX/P&W, commercial aftersales were up by 19 percent. LATAM’s Roberto Alvo noted that the fuel benefit of the new technology engines of around 15 percent is entirely wiped out by the additional costs for MRO or sourcing of capacity elsewhere, mostly through costly wet leases. He warned the engine makers to reflect on what to do better before they introduce the next round of technologies to the market. [caption id="attachment_192590" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Pratt & Whitney PW1500G[/caption] Gouging Then came June 7 in Rio. In his last speech as IATA Director General, Willie Walsh was vocal about his and the industry’s frustrations with engines: “Most engine manufacturer profits were up double digits. I cannot share my reaction to this paradox in polite company, so I leave you to draw your own conclusions. But then again, when have you guys ever been polite? So, let me tell you what I think. My message to the engine OEMs is simple – stop gouging us and get back to making great engines that work and that last. Allowing these failures to extend into the next decade is totally unacceptable to the customers.” He was positive about one company: CFM. “While supply chain failures have not materially improved, I will highlight the extension of an agreement with CFM to bring more competition in aftermarket services. It’s not a magic remedy or even a new solution. But greater vigilance to its terms could see some improvement in parts availability and maintenance capacity. More so if others follow CFM’s example.” One engine Come Sunday afternoon, it was United’s Scott Kirby to vent his frustration. His main criticism of aircraft and engine OEMs during a media round table: “Don’t ever, ever, ever build an airplane with one engine option; you have to have competition.” Kirby thinks that Airbus, Boeing and Embraer have made the wrong decisions in the past to offer some of their products with only one engine type. At Airbus, the A220 only has the P&W Geared Turbofan, while the A330neo and A350 exclusively have Rolls-Royce. The Boeing MAX is only available with the CFM LEAP, the 777X just the GE9X, in line with the GE90 on the 777-300ER. Embraer offers the E175 with the GE CF-34 and the E2-family with the GTF. It would be no problem if the engines met their specifications, but being dependent on just a single supplier is destined to cause trouble if there is trouble, Kirby’s message was. He praised GE Aerospace and CFM for doing a good job and thinks that Pratt & Whitney is also customer-oriented. But Rolls-Royce? “The truth is the only one that I sort of have in my doghouse is Rolls.” Rolls-Royce That made United the second airline to fire flak at Rolls-Royce for underdelivering. Remember Emirates President Sir Tim Clark at the 2023 Dubai Airshow, when he criticised the durability of the XWB-97 and called it a “defective” engine because it could not withstand the non-benign environment of the Gulf region? Those comments hurt Rolls-Royce very hard, especially as Emirates is still not convinced that updates and upgrades to the engine will work when they become available next year. [caption id="attachment_192589" align="aligncenter" width="709"] Airbus A350-1000 Dubai Airshow 2025[/caption] Kirby’s comments must be seen in a different context, too. As reported by AirInsight in February, United disclosed in its 10K filing that it is engaged in a legal battle with Rolls-Royce about payments to the airline. United claims that Rolls has breached a “committed payment” related to XWB-84s that are/were part of an order for 45 Airbus A350-900s, placed in 2009. Rolls claims that United breached the contract, so the conflict escalated. From what Kirby told the media in Rio, there is no quick end to the feud. The bottom line must be that airline CEOs, either directly or through Willie Walsh, expressed their irritation to the engine OEMs. Kirby is concerned that the airlines will face up to five more years of severe engine shortages, despite the OEMs claiming that they are expanding MRO capacity across the globe. Nick Careen, IATA’s SVP for Operations, Safety, and Security, said on Monday that 15 percent of the world’s fleet is in storage, and that the Geared Turbofan engine accounts for 75 percent of stored young aircraft. Next aircraft The message to airframers is: offer us dual-source on your next aircraft. A couple of years ago, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said that he would like the stretched A220 to have a second engine option. But doing that might frustrate the business case of the program, which is still loss-making. On the Next Generation Single Aisle aircraft, Airbus seems to favour the open rotor concept. The characteristics of this engine make it almost impossible to offer an alternative, ducted engine to satisfy Scott Kirby. Airbus and CFM must be absolutely certain that the open rotor they prefer will not come to market too soon. Boeing and Embraer have kept their cards closer to their chests when it comes to the preferred engine choice, although Boeing favours a ducted concept. That gives P&W the better cards with a new version of the GTF, although Rolls-Royce is eager to re-enter the narrowbody market again with a smaller version of the yet-to-fly UltraFan concept. Airline bosses don’t have to wait too long to continue their conversations about engines with the OEMs. They will meet soon at next month’s Farnborough Airshow.

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