IAE Ships First V2500 SelectOne Production Engine

IAE International Aero Engines has concluded an excellent week of business at the Farnborough International Airshow by dispatching the first production engine of its new V2500 SelectOne build standard to Toulouse.

The achievement of this latest milestone follows a record week of announced orders for IAE at Farnborough. During the Show, the company concluded business with 10 customers for a total of $7 billion.

The first SelectOne engine, serial number 15004, has been shipped from the V2500 production facility at Dahlewitz, Germany, to Toulouse, France, where it will undergo final preparations before installation. The second engine for the launch aircraft is due to be shipped from IAE’s second V2500 assembly line in Middletown, Connecticut, later this month.

The on-target departure of the new production standard keeps SelectOne on time for delivery to launch customer, Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo, in the third quarter, 2008.

Jon Beatty, President & CEO at IAE, said: “It has been an outstanding week of business for us at Farnborough and delivering the first SelectOne engine closes the show on a real high. We’ve had an excellent market response to the new build standard, demonstrated by the strength of our orders this week. We still have to deliver on our promises to our growing list of customers and dispatching the first SelectOne engine on time is the first step on that journey.”

Jim Pennito, Vice President Operations and Programs at IAE added: “The improvements offered through SelectOne maintain IAE’s technology and environmental leadership on the Airbus A320 and its success is testimony to the strength of the collaboration. The engine program is now entering an exciting but challenging phase as we prepare for an on-schedule entry into service with IndiGo.

“There has been a great team effort to ensure that the SelectOne program has remained on track throughout its development, not just at IAE, but also across our parent companies and Airbus.”

Throughout testing, the improvements offered by SelectOne have consistently met or exceeded targets. It is the product upgrade element in the V2500Select® program that will reduce fuel burn by a further one per cent, along with a corresponding reduction in CO2 emissions. It will also improve time-on-wing by 20 per cent, and demonstrate compliance with the most stringent CAEP/6 NOx standards.

All the hardware changes for the SelectOne production and retrofit configurations received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) FAR 33 certification ahead of schedule in December 2007 and has since undergone more than 80 additional hours of flight testing at Airbus on an A320.

The 22,000-33,000lb of thrust V2500 is available in seven different thrust settings to power the Airbus A319, A320 and A321 family of aircraft as well as the A319 Corporate Jet. More than 5,000 V2500 engines are in service or on firm order.

IAE is a multinational aero engine consortium whose shareholders comprise Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, the Japanese Aero Engines Corporation and MTU Aero Engines. This year it is celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the formation of the company. 

International Aero Engines