Wizz Air selected the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan Engines for its order of 110 Airbus A321 aircraft, with purchase rights for 90 more, announced July 13 at the Farnborough Air Show. Wizz Air, low cost carriers in Central and Eastern Europe, currently operates a fleet of 70 Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft connecting 124 destinations in 39 countries.
The selection of the GTF was economically driven, according to President and CEO Joseph Váradi. “Following a detailed review process, we concluded that the Geared Turbofan engine delivers the best value proposition as well as maximum fuel and operational efficiency. While we already have a very low cost base, our focus is to be ever more efficient to offer the lowest fares for our customers while driving strong returns for our shareholders.”
The P&W GTF engine is demonstrating dispatch reliability levels of approximately 99.8% (which is typical for mature programs) and has met all of its performance commitments from the start, including a 16% reduction in fuel burn, a 75% decrease in the noise footprint, and a 50% reduction in regulated emissions.
That performance level is critical to Low Cost Carriers who are looking to minimize costs, including landing fees that are noise and emission-based in various European destinations. Wizz Air believes the GTF combines the lowest fuel burn in its class with low maintenance cost and low environmental costs, enabling it to keep costs lower than their competition.
You have Lufthansa operating the GTF, IndiGo is taking its deliveries and flying flawless, and now WIzzAir – which takes its engineers from former Malev technicians, but also Lufthansa-trained other nationalities… if you ask me, all these news make U-turn Al look and sound like a foolish clown at best of times….
Boeing needed to make somebody a deal they couldn´t resist after Southwest´s quite short notice deferrals. U-turn was the benificiary.