Kingfisher Airlines, the first Indian company to place an order for the A380 aircraft, is yet to decide on the engine that would be fit onto the superjumbo.
HYDERABAD: Kingfisher Airlines, the first Indian company to place an order for the A380 aircraft, is yet to decide on the engine that would be fit onto the superjumbo.
Airbus, which manufactures the double-deck aircraft, offers buyers the option to fit either an Engine Alliance or Rolls Royce engine.
“Kingfisher is yet to take a decision on the engine and they might do so sometime in 2009,” Tina Carnelli, director, product marketing, Engine Alliance, said.
Engine Alliance is a joint venture of Pratt & Whitney and General Electric. Kingfisher had placed an order for five A380s. While eight of these mega machines are flying in the world today, there are orders for 192 aircraft.
While Engine Alliance is hopeful of making the cut, Rolls Royce is said to have an edge, as Airbus planes, which are part of Kingfisher’s fleet now, have Rolls Royce engines.
“Kingfisher already has a relationship with Rolls Royce. So, they have an edge over us. But, we are offering them the best engine in the world,” Carnelli said. EA manufactures engines exclusively for A380s.
Apart from discounts, EA is also reportedly basing its pitch on testimonials by Dubai’s Emirates Airlines, to bag the order from the private Indian carrier. “Emirates says that the saving in terms of fuel efficiency is huge. According to their calculations, there is a saving of about five lakh litres of fuel per aircraft every year,” Carnelli said.
The GP7200 engine manufactured by EA for the aircraft has been derived from two successful wide body aircraft engines — the GE90-115B and the PW4090.
Incidentally, there is a significant contribution to the EA engine by Indian engineers.
While a team at the Hyderabad-based Infotech Enterprises’ Engineering Services works to create high-quality designs and reduce the weight of parts for GP7200, Engine Alliance member company GE Aviation has one of the largest research facilities in India.
The John F Welch Technology Centre in Bangalore employs over 4,000 advanced researchers who work with global teams to develop advanced technology products. Among these, there are more than 470 researchers working on various mechanical, aerospace and electrical engineering projects including fracture mechanics, acoustics, reliability and electro-magnetism.
Infotech Enterprises also participates on the Engine Alliance team. Bangalore and Hyderabad engineers at Infotech work for Engine Alliance Team.
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