Dubai-based Emirates Airlines has selected GE-P&W Engine Alliance’s GP7200 engine to power the carrier’s follow-on order for 23 Airbus A380 aircraft. The value of the order exceeds $1.5 billion, stated a press release.
The contract award calls for the GE-PW Engine Alliance to supply 92 installed and nine spare GP7200 engines to power a fleet of 21 A380s purchased by Emirates, as well as two A380 aircraft leased from International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC). The delivery of these A380 aircraft, which will be configured for 550 passengers, begins in 2009.
This latest contract follows Emirates' 2002 announcement to purchase GP7200 engines for 22 A380 aircraft. Delivery of those aircraft begins in September 2006.
Emirates is the largest customer for the Airbus A380, as well as for the Engine Alliance's GP7200 engine. In combining the 45 A380 aircraft being acquired by the airline, Emirates will have a total of 199 GP7200 engines valued at more than three billion dollars. Emirates will also be the first airline to put the engine into service.
When the A380 enters Emirates' fleet in 2006, the airline anticipates flying more than twice as many passengers as today, with the A380 operating from Dubai to Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America.
Created in 1996, the Engine Alliance is a 50/50 joint venture between GE Aircraft Engines and Pratt & Whitney to develop, manufacture, sell, and support a family of engines for the new class of high-capacity, long-range aircraft such as the A380. GE and P&W revenue-sharing program participants in the GP7200 are Snecma Moteurs of France, MTU of Germany, and Techspace Aero of Belgium. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
