A320neo’s First Pratt & Whitney Test Engine Takes Shape

Pratt & Whitney has finished assembling the first PurePower PW1100G-JM turbofan for the Airbus A320neo, the engine manufacturer announced today.  Company leaders from Pratt & Whitney, Airbus and program partners MTU and JAEC joined employees on Friday morning to celebrate the program milestone with a "last bolt" ceremony at Pratt & Whitney’s West Palm Beach facility, where schedules call for testing to begin “soon.”

The engine, rated at 33,000 pounds of thrust, becomes the third member of the PurePower PW1000G series to begin testing. Engines for the Bombardier CSeries and Mitsubishi MRJ have already completed 3,700 hours and 11,000 cycles of full testing.

Schedules call for the PW1100G-JM program to run a total of eight test engines over the next 24 months. The company plans to build test engines both in West Palm Beach and at its plant in Middletown, Connecticut.

Pratt & Whitney has collected firm orders for 1,136 engines to power the A320neo series, scheduled to enter service in October 2015. Airbus expects the first CFM Leap-1A-powered A320 to enter service in 2016.