AIN overall average reader ratings for turbofan engine product support during the past year climbed for three engine manufacturers, with GE Aerospace topping the chart at a 9.1 rating, up the most—by 0.4—from last year. Rolls-Royce’s 8.6 rating remained the same as last year, putting it in second place, while Williams International, with a rating of 8.5, climbed 0.1 and came in third. Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) declined by 0.1 to 8.3, while Honeywell saw the second-largest gain of 0.3 to a 7.9 rating.
In the turboprop category, Honeywell topped the chart with a 9.1 overall average, followed by P&WC, which climbed 0.3 points to an also very strong 8.9. Pratt & Whitney’s overall average dropped to 8.6 from 9.1 for turboshaft engines. Rolls-Royce and Safran weren’t included because they received insufficient ratings.
As for the individual engine ratings, most of the turbofan models saw increases in support scores even as it was more of a mixed bag on the turboshaft front. GE Aerospace’s Passport and CF34 turbofans came in with 9.2 and 9.0 overall averages this year, leading the pack. Honeywell’s TPE331 led in the turboprop/turboshaft category with its 9.1 rating.
Overall engine reliability generally drew the strongest ratings with nearly all scores edging above 9.0, while predictably, cost of parts was among the lower scores for both the company and individual models.
Supply chain has continued to plague some of the engine manufacturers, with conflicts including that involving Russia and Ukraine vexing areas such as access to titanium. However, in parts availability, some manufacturers have had more success than others—reflected in the range of scores from 7.4 to 9.1.
That spread was even greater for individual models, reaching 9.2 for GE’s Passport, a relatively new model that is still expanding in the marketplace, and 6.9 for the venerable Honeywell TFE731, a more legacy model that has been in production since the early 1970s with more than 13,000 produced.
Despite the challenges of supply—in material, parts, and labor—the high scores for engine reliability across the board are particularly notable in light of the uptick in flying over the past several years. While first-half activity is generally down in North America and Europe, it has been up in other parts of the world and largely still surpasses 2019 activity, according to analysts such as WingX and Argus.
GE Aerospace
GE Aerospace’s Passport and CF34 engines rocketed to the top of the ratings for individual engine models with a 9.2 and 9.0, respectively. Neither drew enough ratings to be included in the 2023 survey results. For the Passport, which powers the ultra-long-range Bombardier Global 7500, ratings topped 9.0 in all categories except cost-per-hour programs and cost of parts. Even in the latter category, the Passport led the panel with an 8.8 rating. It also led in areas including AOG response with a 9.5.
The company’s overall engine reliability—crossing all of its rated engines—scored a high 9.5, matching that of Rolls-Royce. GE also received high scores for factory-owned service centers (9.4), authorized service centers (9.2), cost-per-hour programs (8.6), parts availability (9.1), cost of parts (a surprisingly high 8.6 for this category), AOG response (9.3), technical manuals (8.9), and technical reps (9.2).
The Improvements
Operators flying aircraft powered by GE Aerospace engines continue to fly more after the Covid pandemic, and this has spurred growth of GE Aerospace business jet MRO activity through its OnPoint product support program.
Since 2023, the fleet of aircraft powered by GE engines grew by 10%. Just in business aviation, GE’s CF34-3 engine fleet recently climbed over the 15-million-hour mark. The GE Passport has surpassed 300,000 flight hours.
The full-service OnPoint risk-reduction program for business aviation continues to focus on the “four essential elements,” according to GE: “comprehensive, transparent, transferable, and global.” Supporting customers through OnPoint means investing in growth globally, improving spare parts availability, and providing prognostic information via GE’s digital data analytics. This includes adding logistics personnel and emphasizing strategic global spare parts warehouses to improve the processing and delivery of parts.
“The result has been a 20% year-over-year growth in the volume of mobile repair jobs supported and a 10% increase in proactive analytics developed to minimize operator disruptions with over 68% of Passport disruptions caught prior [to] occurrence,” GE explained.
“The OnPoint program balances our OEM design expertise and the use of genuine parts and repairs to give our customers superior operational reliability and peace of mind,” said Melvyn Heard, general manager of business aviation at GE Aerospace. “This streamlined support means no time wasted so you have less downtime and more time in the air.”
Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce maintained its overall average score of 8.6, as well as its position of second of five turbofan providers listed in the survey, similar to 2023. The company’s highest rating in the survey was for overall engine reliability at 9.5, matching that of GE Aerospace. The engine maker also scored a strong 9.0 in factory-owned service centers and 8.8 in authorized service centers, along with 8.9 in warranty fulfillment.
While its Tay series did not garner enough responses to be included in this year’s survey, its BR700 series improved in ratings from the top-ranked 8.6 last year to 8.8 this year and led the pack in overall engine reliability at 9.6. However, its AE3007 saw a notable dip in the ratings from 8.6 in 2023 to 7.9 this year with drops below 7 in the cost-per-hour programs and cost-of-parts categories.
The Improvements
Rolls-Royce’s Business Aviation Aircraft Availability Center has helped the engine manufacturer achieve a return to service for AOGs of fewer than 24 hours and a more than 99% averted missed trip rate for customers all over the world.
During the past year, Rolls-Royce has added to its authorized service center network, which now has more than 85 locations. These are supported by 10 parts depots, including the newest, a 10,000-sq-ft AOG support storage facility in New York for CorporateCare customers based on the East Coast.
More than 50% of CorporateCare-covered engines are now on CorporateCare Enhanced, which includes “full coverage of both the engine and nacelle plus all labor and mobile response team travel time,” according to Rolls-Royce, as well as covering “unlimited corrosion and erosion.”
To help owners of “mature Rolls-Royce-powered business aviation aircraft,” the company introduced CorporateCare Flex, a power-as-a-service program that lowers the cost of ownership while helping increase aircraft availability.
Other developments include Rolls-Royce’s new technical publications platform; strengthening engine and nacelle lease assets with more than 250 on hand; and 25 customer managers and more than 75 on-wing services technicians dedicated to business aviation. This year, Rolls-Royce is launching a new customer portal “where you will find everything you need to manage your Rolls-Royce assets in one convenient location.”
Williams International
Williams International’s score inched up a tenth of a point to 8.5 this year, keeping it in the middle of the overall average ratings for turbofan providers and placing it just below Rolls-Royce. The company received the highest rating for warranty fulfillment at 9.7, which was also the highest rating of any category for any of the turbofan providers (surpassed only by Honeywell's turboprop engine reliability score of 9.9).
Its FJ44 engine drew an 8.5, pushing above 9.0 in both warranty fulfillment and technical representatives.
The Improvements
During the past year, Williams International said it “worked to identify areas of improvement to minimize turnaround time in our repair station and expedite the engine delivery process.”
Since 2020, Williams has faced challenges with downtime and rental engine availability, but the work to improve these areas has resulted in customers experiencing greater aircraft availability and an increase in the number of available rental engines. Customers in the Williams TAP Blue service program were able to receive expedited maintenance, the company explained, so no loaner engine was needed, thus eliminating having to make a return trip to the service center for a loaner engine exchange.
Another important effort has been upgrading the Williams service network to full capabilities approval. “We understand the need for our service centers to be fully equipped to support operators' maintenance needs,” the company noted, and the added capabilities at authorized service centers have helped prevent engine removals and also sped up the work because there was no need to wait for dispatch of trained technicians. Plans call for all authorized service centers to have the enhanced capabilities “in the near future,” but 70% have already reached that level.
“We are passionate about supporting our customers and believe in providing the best products and services available,” the company said.
Pratt & Whitney Canada
Pratt & Whitney Canada’s (P&WC) turbofan support rating dipped slightly to 8.3 this year, but the engine maker drew a strong 9.0 in factory-owned service centers and 9.2 in engine reliability. At the same time, in the turboprop segment, P&WC’s rating improved by 0.3 to 8.9 with scores topping 9.0 in six categories: factory-owned service centers, authorized service centers, AOG response, technical manuals, technical representatives, and overall engine reliability. As for its turboshaft position, P&WC experienced a 0.5 drop to 8.6 but still scored 9.0s in both service center categories and 9.2 in engine reliability.
The company’s PT6A turboprop received a rating of 8.9, with the turboshaft variants close behind at 8.8.
The Improvements
In the fourth quarter of last year, P&WC announced the selection of Duncan Aviation’s Lincoln, Nebraska MRO headquarters as a designated overhaul facility for PW300 and PW500 turbofan engines that enter into service in the subsequent two years.
The move bolsters P&WC’s global network, which consists of more than 50 company-owned MRO facilities, designated maintenance facilities for line maintenance and mobile services, designated overhaul facilities, and APU-approved repair facilities located in 25 countries.
With more than 600 PT6C-67C engines operating in the Asia-Pacific region, P&WC in February revealed plans to expand MRO capabilities in Singapore with a new overhaul line. Demand for “advanced maintenance solutions” in that region led to the decision to add the overhaul line, which will include a new modular test cell, according to P&WC. The PT6C-67C powers the Leonardo AW139 medium-twin helicopter, and the new overhaul line and test cell will be fully operational by 2025.
“Maintaining close customer relationships is crucial for planning our customers’ maintenance, repair, and overhaul needs,” said Irene Makris, v-p of customer service at Pratt & Whitney Canada. “With increased flying across all our markets, we continue to work on finding solutions through pioneering repair part strategies and new provisioning to keep fleets flying.”
Supply chain challenges continue to challenge manufacturers throughout the industry, she added, as well as longer turnaround times. This makes it critical to keep communication channels open and make sure front-line teams have all the tools and training that they need.
“It's also important not to lose sight of the future. Leveraging our engine health monitoring data, automation, and AI delivers proactive solutions. Additionally, efforts are underway to inspire the next generation of maintenance technicians amidst increased service demand, as the industry evolves and innovates,” she concluded.
Honeywell
Honeywell marked a 0.3 improvement in its rating from 2023, reaching 7.9 in turbofans, while maintaining a top rank among turboprop/shaft engines of 9.1 for its out-of-production TPE331. In the turbofan segment, it received a 9.0 score for authorized service centers and a 9.1 in engine reliability. However, lower scores in cost of parts (6.9) and parts availability (7.4) tamped down overall scores in the turbofan sector.
Meanwhile, in the turboprop segment, warranty fulfillment drew a high of all the scores in this year’s survey—and last year’s, for that matter—with a perfect 10.0 followed closely by a nearly perfect 9.9 in engine reliability.
The Improvements
Like other engine OEMs, Honeywell customers have faced issues obtaining rental engines, so some reorganization has taken place to improve bank engine health, according to Todd Owens, v-p of customer and product support for the Americas. “The engine rental bank team, as well as the specs teams, used to report into a different part of customer product support,” he said. “We made a strategic decision to have those teams…report directly to me so that my team can better prioritize and take back the voice of the customer. The demand for bank engines is only going to increase,” and this applies to the HTF and TFE series engines.
Although the last new TFE731 shipped earlier this year, there are still more than 10,500 TFEs in the field, and supporting them remains a priority. There have been supply chain issues for TFE parts, but Owens and his supply chain vice president are working with channel partners and the Honeywell Aerospace Trading team to source serviceable used parts that can be repaired to keep the engine fleet flying.
“We’re going out and purchasing engines to make sure that the TFE bank health is where it needs to be,” he said. “From an operational tempo, we have a weekly [meeting] with myself and my peers and the supply chain to make sure that we're getting the details needed, or we’re dual sourcing those parts, to make sure that we get the customers' engines out of our shop back and on their airplanes.” This has an added benefit, liberating engines to go back into the rental bank. “We’re making a lot of progress there,” he said.
As the HTF fleet has matured, these are seeing more services affecting the core of the engine. One recent fix for the four-state stator will be incorporated during HTF core access, via a new service bulletin, according to Malcolm Fleming, v-p of global technical operations. Another improvement is that Honeywell will soon offer a device for wireless downloading of operational data, which will improve the monitoring of engine data, identify emerging trends, “or identify removals that need to happen proactively,” he said.
Honeywell has bolstered its AOG team with six new agents who will help provide faster service. Additionally, said Fleming, “We're looking at how we use digital transformation and generative AI to identify multiple locations or where parts could be available and what's the fastest way to get the part to the operator. And then providing the operator some options on how they can get the part…to help accommodate potential import-export timeframes, but also looking more holistically where the hardware is available, and giving them options.”
Last year, Honeywell refreshed its technical publications portal, and this will enable a key step, adding interactive electronic technical manuals. These are set to go live on the portal at the end of the year. “We’re also heavily focused on getting the TFE manuals updated and revised to the latest standards,” Fleming said, and this will be followed by AS907 manuals.
“There are still many challenges in our supply chain,” Owens said, and although Honeywell is seeing improvements, “we’re not where we want to be. We continue to invest and are looking for opportunities to add additional repair capability.” One area where Honeywell has made a significant improvement is the development of repair capabilities for TFE ITT harnesses, which speed up engine turn times. “We're working with our engineering team to develop repair capabilities for those,” he said. “We're turning over every rock to try to improve our mechanical throughput, and we invest heavily there. We know we still have a long way to go, but we're doing everything we can do to improve the mechanical side of our supply chain.”