Engine Alliance GP7000
The engine Engine Alliance GP7200 Engine Alliance is a turbofan engine. The joint venture between General Electric and Pratt & Whitney was founded to spread the cost of developing this great two-stream jet engine on several shoulders. The customers of the A380 with the GP7200 include Emirates, Etihad, Air France, Korean Air, Asiana Airlines and Qatar.
Development
Originally intended to drive the unrealized Boeing 747X, this engine has since been used for the Airbus A380. Pratt & Whitney developed the low pressure system on the basis of PW4000 including 2.96 m diameter large low-pressure compressor (FAN) of titanium, which sharply curved blades are visible from the front, and the low pressure turbine. General Electric has developed, however, the high-pressure system ( the high-pressure compressor, combustor and high pressure turbine ) on the basis of the GE90. Furthermore, the German engine company MTU Aero Engines in Munich, the French Snecma and the Belgian Techspace Aero are involved in the development.
The competing Rolls- Royce Trent 900 was nominated in 1996 as the standard engine for the then A3XX and initially chosen by almost all customers of the A380. However, the engine consortium of GP72XX increased its share of the sales of the A380 zoom, so it was then used in more than half of the aircraft fleet. In particular, the imbalance was repealed by an order of the Emirates from 90 equipped with this engine aircraft. (Emirates was a traditional Rolls- Royce customer to date. ) All models of the A380 with this engine are numbered A380 - 86x, as 6 of the Code for the engines of the Engine Alliance.
On 14 December 2007, the engine was officially approved by the FAA and EASA acts as the drive for the A380.
Meanwhile, more than 100 of them were delivered (as of mid 2010).
Test
The test runs on the ground began in April 2004 and the engine was tested for the first time on 14 August 2006 on a A380. Prior to the first test flight was on 3 December 2004, in which one has been replaced by four engines of a Boeing 747 through a GP7200. The engine was certified on January 4, 2006 by the FAA for commercial operation. On August 25, flew to the machine with the serial number MSN 009 for the first time an A380 -861 with this engine. The test began and ended at Toulouse and lasted about four hours. Tests were carried out with respect to travel speed, the engine cowlings and handling. The engines were one day earlier tested at start crashes with the same machine.
Other versions
A version for the Airbus A350 -1000 is currently being investigated. This version could also be used for future A380 -900 (long version ).
The model GP7277 with 363 kN ( 81500 lb f) thrust is provided for the freight version of the A380 with 590 tons of fly weight. The development of the freight version rests According to Airbus, but (as of April 2013).