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s p e c i a l r e p o r tPratt & Whitneyon the prowlAt Singapore’s Asian Aerospace ’98Pratt & Whitney (P&W) president KarlKrapek made some firm predictions.He admitted that until 1997, Pratt had neveroverhauled one of its own JT8D engines.With some 12,000 in service, this was a vastmarket left untapped, which he described as“amazing”. The company, he added, shouldhave attacked it “years ago”.He predicted the after-market wouldprove a growth area for a good five years,into the early years of this new millennium,and that Asian crisis-related deferrals couldfree up factory space that would be occupiedby this expansion.And he added that P&W was now goingout there to claim for itself 10% of thatsizeable JT8D after-market.As Asian Aerospace 2000 neared, P&Wgrabbed a last minute addition to its orderbook from Asia with a 10-year agreementfrom Japan Air System (JAS) for a fleetmanagement programme for their JT8D-200-powered MD-80 aircraft.Previously Ishikawajima Harima HeavyIndustries (IHI) in Japan had done the work.Robert Weiner, P&W’s vice-president engineservices, said they were particularly pleasedto win the contract against strong localcompetition.Signed in late November, the deal offeredcost savings and turn time improvements,which reduced the cost per engine-flighthourfor the customer, said Mr Weiner. Thefleet management programme is based on“power by the hour” with JAS paying perengine flight hour.As part of the agreement, dedicated P&Wtechnical staff are assigned to JAS’s base inTokyo and the engine-maker’s overhaul centreto focus entirely on JAS work.The new agreement covers 63 engines inthe JAS fleet and has an estimated value ofnearly US$150 million.The full-scale overhaul and maintenancework will be performed at P&W’s Columbusengine centre in Georgia, USA, Columbusopened in 1996 and is dedicated to the JT8Dengine family. Since its opening the centrehas handled about 200 engines, 70% of themSIA Engineering: successful joint venture with P&Wduring 1999.“We’re doing very well in Columbus,” MrWeiner told Orient Aviation. “We’ve done atremendous amount of work implementingflow lines and reducing our turn time. In fact,turn time is down to 45-50 days. We’re doingabout 15 8Ds each month and we’ll ramp thisup significantly over the next few years. We’llat least double last year’s total in 2000.”Mr Weiner said he expected to achieve thetargeted 10% share of the 8D market by theend of this year. However, he said P&W’s 1999share had only been 3% to 4%, which clearlyunderlines the benefits awaited from the ongoingturn time reduction programme.At Asian Aerospace ’98, Mr Krapek contrastedhis company’s strategy to that of GEEngine Services, which aggressively targetsmaintenance work on rivals’ products. “Prattisn’t interested in doing the other guy’s engines... I’ve got plenty of growth in my ownengine market to take care of first,” he said,but added that when P&W take on an airlinewith a mixed fleet of engines, it will handlerivals’ powerplants.Now it seems that P&W is taking moreinterest in competitors’ engines and thatis what has happened in Singapore. P&Wbought a 51% stake in SIA Engineering’sengine overhaul business in 1998 and amongthe 240 engines handled last year was its firstheavy overhaul of a rival engine.The first CFM56-5 went through theshop in November, although the companyhad handled light overhaul of the engine theprevious year. Now it is handling two heavyoverhauls each month and is beginning tolook for third party CFM56-5 clients andpossibly a repair capability“That’s our first non-Pratt engine andit won’t be the last!” said Mr Weiner. “TheSingapore joint venture is the first step. Nowwe’re looking at many other opportunitiesaround the world to go well beyond theCFM56-5. We already do a fair amount of GEand Rolls-Royce engine repairs and we’ll beexpanding that, too.”The Singapore joint venture was originallyregistered under P&W’s old Eagle Servicesbrand name and it still goes by that title, eventhough the rest of the business switched toPratt & Whitney Engine Services last year. Like66 | Orient Aviation | February 2000