Bloomberg is reporting that Pratt & Whitney has been quietly assessing excessive vibration in its new-design geared turbofan engines in the latest of a string of teething problems with the fuel-sipping design. Bloomberg says a vibration issue has caused cockpit alerts in A320neos that have been delivered to airlines all over the world. Pratt told Bloomberg it’s working on the problem. The FAA has confirmed it’s working with Pratt to identify the cause but it hasn’t issued any orders or bulletins to operators.
Bloomberg says its sources estimate that about 10 A320neos are grounded at a time while engineers probe the cause. Like most major technological leaps, the geared turbofan has suffered a series of service entry problems and Pratt is under pressure to get them fixed. The engine uses about 30 percent less fuel than previous generation engines and since fuel is the largest cost for airlines it’s a big attraction. Airbus has kept its chin up through the difficulties, which also affect its newly acquired A220 line of jets that it took over from Bombardier, but there are cracks appearing in that brave face as stock prices dropped more than a full percentage point on the latest news. Airbus says it still plans to deliver 800 A320neos this year. “The risk is that the series of issues with the GTF engine may have begun to test investor’s patience,” Bloomberg reported Jeffries International analyst Sandy Morris as warning clients.
