Thom Patterson - Aerospace Tech Review

The Electric Age is Already Here By Thom Patterson

by Thom Patterson | Nov 10, 2020 | Innovation

Right now, electric airplanes are not only being developed and tested, but they’re also being certified, produced and put into service.

In Europe, type-certified electric airplanes are coming off the production line.

In Western Canada, a seaplane commuter airline is making plans to electrify its entire fleet for paying passengers.

In the C-suites at some of the world’s largest airframers, executives are talking seriously about the changes in air traffic management and the infrastructure that must be built to accommodate the first generation of electric aircraft.

More than ever before, the desire for environmentally friendly aircraft — combined with leaps in technology — are driving the aviation industry into a new era. It’s a future that promises to include a wide range of designs, including fixed-wing, tilt-rotor, ducted fans — many capable of vertical takeoff and landing — powered by lithium-ion batteries, hydrogen fuel cells or other means.

The Rolls-Royce ACCEL project team includes key partners YASA, the electric motor and controller manufacturer, and aviation start-up Electroflight. Rolls-Royce image.

“Look at how many startups are out there, doing different things,” said Andre Stein, head of Strategy for EmbraerX — Embraer’s research and development arm. They’ve been very busy lately figuring out the secrets of eVTOL — electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. “We need to disrupt ourselves before someone else does.”

Like Embraer, Rolls-Royce is also committing serious resources for several electric R&D programs. The aviation propulsion giant is developing a one-seat, battery-driven 300-mile-an-hour research airplane called ACCEL.

Mike Mekhiche, Deputy Director, Rolls-Royce Electrical

magniX CEO, Roei Ganzarski — Mike Mekhiche, Deputy Director, Rolls-Royce Electrical

Are you ready for the roaring ’20s? Taking a look at newer and emerging platforms By Thom Patterson

by Thom Patterson | Mar 27, 2020 | Innovation

It’s truly an exciting time in aviation history. The convergence of ultra-efficient engines, revolutionary building materials and an increasingly global economy is creating a virtually unprecedented era.

The past decade has seen first flights for several new designs as well as significant technological improvements for variants of already existing types.

What flew for the first time in the 2010s? Here’s a quick list:

Single-aisle airliners include Bombardier’s CS100 and CS300, later to be acquired by Airbus and rebranded the A220-100 and A220-300, as well as the A320neo and A321neo. Also, the 737 Max flew for the first time this past decade.

Now the world awaits word on when the grounded airliner will be certified to fly again.

Also entering service in the 2010s were several wide-body twinjets – such as the two successful main variants of the A350-XWB family and Boeing’s 787-8. Eventually all three Dreamliner variants earned success during the decade.

As we roar into the ’20s, the new decade promises to bring additional platforms aimed at supporting skyrocketing projections for passengers and cargo.

Embraer will spend this year and next working to certify its E175-E2, after its maiden flight last December. 2020 has already seen the first flight of Boeing’s 777-9X — a 21st century improvement on the beloved 777. Plagued with delays — the first Japanese-made commercial jetliner — Mitsubishi’s SpaceJet M90 — could finally be delivered to its launch customer ANA next year.

Airbus’s freakishly large Beluga XL flew its first operational flight this past January. Eventually five more of the transport airplanes are expected to be produced.

Also this year, the fate of the beleaguered 737 Max is expected to play out — an unprecedented scenario that has forced hundreds of jets to sit fallow on the ground since March of 2019.

With so much activity, it seems like a good time to take a look at how some of the newer platforms are faring. But let’s also scan the horizon for what new designs and variants lay ahead.

Airbus A350-XWB

Let’s start with the wide-bodies. With two years of service under its belt, the A350-1000 has gone a long way toward earning the title “king of the long haulers.” Built to fly at least 350 passengers more than 19 hours without refueling, the A350-1000 has been proving itself on marathon non-stop routes like Hong Kong-Washington Dulles and between Doha and Houston, Texas.

Qantas Airlines announced last December it has tentatively chosen the A350-1000 for its Project Sunrise ultra long-haul routes in excess of 10,000 miles beginning in 2023. Possible routes could fly between Perth and London and between the Australian east coast and London or New York City.

The carrier specifically called out the A350’s reliable Rolls-Royce XWB engines as a factor in its decision.

If the final decision by Qantas gives the program a green light, Airbus plans to increase the aircraft’s fuel capacity and MTOW.

No word from Airbus about whether it plans to build a stretched version of the -1000. “Airbus is always studying how we can evolve our aircraft family portfolio,” said Airbus spokesman Martin Fendt. “The recent selection by Qantas of the A350-1000 – over the competing 777X – for their ‘Sunrise’ requirement is one of many examples that Airbus is adopting the right strategy.”

The final decision, says Teal Group aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia, may come down to weight.

“The 777-8X is a good plane,” Aboulafia said. ”Ultimately it’s got a heavier structure and greater weight than the 777-9X, so the A350-1000 probably has the advantage. But we’ll see.”

Boeing 777-9X

Speaking of the 777X, the program achieved an important milestone last January 25, when the jet flew for the first time.

The 777-9X variant — distinguished by its extreme length and wide wingspan — took off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington, and flew for 4 hours before landing at nearby Boeing Field in Seattle.

“The 777X flew beautifully,” said chief test pilot Capt. Van Chaney shortly after touching down. Testing continued into February with typical flights clocking ground speeds around 400 mph and reaching maximum altitudes from 14,000 feet to nearly 21,000 feet.

The 777X design aims to save fuel with large, light-weight, carbon fiber wings which are produced in gigantic pressurized ovens at Boeing’s Everett factory. The fuselage is aluminum, saving the 777X from steep production costs incurred by the carbon-fiber fuselage Dreamliner.

Boeing says the 777X – powered by all-new GE9X engines — will be 12% more fuel efficient and deliver 10% lower “operating economics” than its competition. It’s interesting to note that General Electric has proclaimed the GE9X as the largest turbine engine in the world – with a diameter big enough to fit the fuselage of a 737.

In fact, the 777-9X is now the world’s largest twinjet, seating about 425 passengers and offering a range of more than 8,200 nm.

Aboulafia is excited about the new platform. “But it’s going to have fantastic costs for that size class,” he said. “Eventually the market will look again at larger planes. It’s just going to take a while to play out. But when they do, that design is going to be in its own unique category.”

Airbus A330-800

Another wide-body, the Airbus A330-800 is the world’s newest large airliner to achieve type certification. The fuel-saving twinjet achieved a joint stamp of approval in February from the EASA and the FAA.

Expected to enter service later this year, the -800 is the second of Airbus’s two A330neos (neo stands for New Engine Option), both of which sport fuel-efficient Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines. Overall the -800 burns 25% less fuel than older competing models. The larger A330-900 won certification in 2018.

Compared with the earlier A330 types (-200ceo and -300ceo, Current Engine Option) the A330neos offer longer range and higher seating capacity. The -800 comes with a range of up to 8,150 nm and typically seats up to 260 passengers in three classes.

Contributing to its range and efficiency, the -800 also boasts a new wing design and light-weight, super-strong carbon composite Sharklets.

While the platform is based on that of the already very efficient A330ceo wing, they are quite different internally and externally.

“The A330ceo wing contains elements carried over from the four-engine A340 airliner – in the form of provisions for the mounting of the A340’s outer-wing engines and pylons,” Fendt said. “In the A330neo however, these structures were removed altogether from the design, saving considerable weight and reducing cost and complexity.”

Another significant change on the A330-800, Fendt said, includes new 3D spanwise “wing twist” aerodynamic efficiency optimization applied to the wing design.

The Sharklets add as much as four meters to the overall span compared to the A330ceo, according to Airbus.

“What’s really interesting is that with this span extension, the A330neo’s wing achieves an efficiency-boosting aspect-ratio of 11.3 – higher than any commercial airliner in operation today, even counting the Boeing 787,” Fendt said.

Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner

Nearly a decade after Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner first entered service, sales for the game-changing carbon-composite wide-body have been slowing down.

Last October Boeing announced it would reduce Dreamliner production from 14 to 12 each month and reports say the company is considering further cuts.

Nonetheless, in February, Dreamliner launch customer ANA announced new orders for nine 787-9s and 11 of the largest variant — the 787-10. Both variants are powered by GEnx engines.

The lightweight carbon-fiber fuselage and wings and the fuel-saving powerplants give these jets a range between 6,400 nm and 7,600 nm, burning 20% less fuel than older competing models. The -8 models seat around 240 passengers in two-classes. The -9 seats nearly 300 passengers while the -10 variant – manufactured in Charleston, South Carolina – seats about 330 passengers in a two-class configuration.

The airframer said it expects output to eventually bounce back in a few years, supported by projected market growth in Asia and airlines looking to replace aging wide-bodies. In Southeast Asia alone Boeing is predicting 4,500 planes will be needed over the next 20 years.

BelugaXL

When you take an Airbus A330 airliner and turn it into one of the world’s largest transport aircraft, people sit up and take notice.

That explains all the attention in January, when the first Airbus BelugaXL went operational.

Eventually Airbus hopes to build five additional BelugaXLs, which boast the largest cargo bay cross-section of any cargo aircraft. All six BelugaXLs are expected to be in service by 2023.

The BelugaXL is designed to ferry huge Airbus components (such as wings for the A350) from production facilities to assembly locations in Hamburg, Germany; Tianjin, China; and Toulouse.

Powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce Trent 700s, BelugaXL is the big brother of the original Belugas — the Airbus A300-600ST aka BelugaST — which entered service in 1995.

There are five BelugaSTs and Airbus says their future is “under consideration” — but the planes could continue flying for another 10-20 years.

Single-Aisle Sensations

The aviation industry continues to buzz about last June’s announcement that Airbus is taking its A321LR single-aisle airliner and adding extra fuel tanks to extend its range by up to 700 nm (1,300 km).

Expected to enter service in 2023, this new long-range variant powered by CFM International LEAP 1A engines will boast a range of up to 4,700 nm (8,700 km) while burning 30% less fuel per seat than previous generation jets built by competitors.

Passenger capacity will be 180-220 in a two-class configuration. To handle extra weight from the added fuel the XLR’s landing gear will be re-engineered to be more robust.

Airbus offered some insight about how that idea began and how it came to fruition.

“Clearly, when we first offered the A321 we engineered-in a capability for growth in the future,” Fendt said. “However, exactly how we would develop and ‘incrementally innovate’ this aircraft family, and in which direction, was something that we would reassess as the market requirements evolved over time.”

What directly led Airbus to move forward with the XLR was airline feedback that showed a market for an aircraft that could fly farther “and create more value by bringing 30% lower fuel burn per seat than the previous-generation competitor aircraft – such as the out-of-production Boeing 757,” Fendt said.

Airbus is selling the A321XLR as a lower-cost, single-aisle aircraft suited for longer and less heavily travelled routes. Many of those routes can now only be served by larger wide-bodies, which are less efficient for those types of operations.

“We all knew the A321 had a lot of potential,” said Aboulafia. “What’s interesting about the XLR and the A321 in general is just how much more you can do to it, like new wings and new engines.”

Aboulafia points out the potential of even more development of the A321. Imagine a “220- to 240-seat jet with 5,000 nm range,” he said. “There’s just so much route development that can take place with that kind of product.”

A380 Production Ending

In fact, there’s a connection between the A321XLR and the world’s largest passenger jet, the Airbus A380.

When production ends for the A380 in 2021, its assembly line in the Lagardere production facility in Toulouse will be converted to produce the A321XLRs.

It’s hard to believe 15 years have passed since the first A380 took flight. During that time, more than 240 A380s have rolled off the assembly line.

The new A321 line at Lagardere will be “digitally enabled,” Airbus said. It’s a step toward Airbus’s goal to modernize the entire A320 production system.

Described as a “next-generation final assembly line,” it’s expected to be ready by mid-2022. Airbus says it will “optimize industrial flow” by increasing A321 production capacity as well as flexibility.

Adding the new Toulouse line will increase the number of A321 assembly plants to three, including the current German facility in Hamburg and the U.S. plant in Mobile, Alabama.

The A321XLR’s acquiring of the A380 production facility is an appropriate turn of events in light of current market trends, Aboulafia said.

Who would have thought that the development of long-range single-aisle airliners would have such industry-wide repercussions? Increased fuel efficiency and longer range are allowing for the fragmentation of larger routes that are the lifeblood of high-capacity airliners like the A380.

“Route fragmentation throughout the globe is still playing out and it’s a far more long-term and profound process than I ever would have guessed,” Aboulafia said.

“We all knew route fragmentation was bound to kill A380, right? But what’s amazing is it just keeps going down and down and down and planes just keep getting smaller and smaller. Right now of course the big beneficiaries are the 787 and A350, but you’re starting to see it trickle down to the A321 a little. You could argue that the most promising aircraft right now in this environment is the A321XLR.”

New Boeing Clean Sheet?

Planes like the A321XLR put pressure on Airbus’s rival Boeing to embark on a new clean sheet design as a way to compete.

“At this point it’s clean sheet or nothing,” Aboulafia said. “In other words, do you cede the fastest growing market in aviation to Airbus? Or do you do something new? There’s no third choice.”

For years Boeing officials have been talking about the possibility of an “NMA” – a new midmarket airplane aimed at a 225-seat jet and a larger airliner seating 275.

This past January, Boeing’s new CEO Dave Calhoun, said: “The NMA project is going to be a new clean sheet of paper.”

But reports suggest the NMA project is being shelved. Instead, Boeing may be considering a new 200- to 240-seat design with a range of 4,700 nm to compete with the A321XLR, according to Aviation Week.

“If Boeing moves quick, they can offer a product that really does outflank the A321 — maybe a plane that gets 5,500 nm — something along those lines — with 220-250 passenger capability,” said Aboulafia.

“I’m not really clear what the technological enablers are for that,” he said. “Will they go with composite wings and a metal tube? Whatever they’re going to do, they’ve got to do something. Otherwise they basically give 10 or 15 points of the market share to Airbus.”

Troubles with the Boeing 737

You can’t talk about Boeing now without including the airframer’s unprecedented troubles with the 737 Max – which have been grounded by aviation authorities worldwide since March 2019 after two tragic crashes killed 346 people.

The idea behind the Max was to create a new line of 737 variants by augmenting existing designs with new efficient CFM International Leap-1B engines that changed the 737’s traditional aerodynamic characteristics.

The 737 Max’s new flying characteristics were to be offset by anti-stall software called MCAS – the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System – which has been blamed for the crashes — Lion Air Flight 610 in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 less than five months later.

This past January, Boeing said it was temporarily halting all Max production, while the plane maker and the FAA work to fix the problems with MCAS.

A year after the historic grounding of the 737 Max – including the -8 and -9 variants – it remains unclear when the type might be re-certified by the FAA and re-enter service.

“… we are currently estimating the ungrounding of the 737 Max will begin during mid-2020,” Boeing said in a statement in January. “Returning the MAX safely to service is our number one priority, and we are confident that will happen. We acknowledge and regret the continued difficulties that the grounding of the 737 MAX has presented to our customers, our regulators, our suppliers, and the flying public.”

Other problems have been reported with the 737 Max during the grounding, including a wiring issue and the discovery of foreign object debris inside fuel tanks.

“I’m still bullish on at least the -8,” said Aboulafia, who suggests rebranding the plane without the word “Max.”

“The -9 and -10 appear to be very badly unmatched by the A321,” he said. “But I think the -8 will be around for a solid dozen years in production. It’ll do its job.”

737 Next Generation

The grounding came shortly after Boeing ended production of passenger versions of its previous 737 line – known as 737 Next Generation. 737 NGs garnered more than 7,000 orders during a 22-year run.

Then, more bad news for the 737: The discovery of hairline cracks last year in structural features called “pickle forks” prompted the FAA to order inspections of all 737 NGs.

Pickle forks connect the fuselage with wings and landing gear. So far, inspections reportedly have revealed cracks in pickle forks in only a small percentage of 737NGs.

Airbus A220

Air Canada is the latest customer flying Airbus’s A220-300 – the single-aisle clean-sheet designed by Bombardier. It took delivery of its first A220-300 last December, the first of 45 on order and the first carrier in North America to operate the type. JetBlue is scheduled to begin flying the first of its 70 ordered A220-300s later this year.

Before Airbus bought controlling interest in the A220 program in 2018, Bombardier had branded the plane the CSeries. The CS100 and CS300 were described as the first clean sheet design of a large, single-aisle airliner in nearly 30 years.

The A220’s unusual wing construction process involves infusing its carbon-fiber reinforced wings with liquid resin.

Air Canada’s A220-300s seat 137 passengers in two classes. The smaller A220-100 — operated by Delta Air Lines and Swiss International Air Lines — seats from 100-120 in a dual-class configuration. Both types have a range of about 3,400 nm.

Airbus says the jets are the “quietest and most eco-friendly aircraft in its category,” thanks in part to efficient twin Pratt & Whitney PW1500G geared turbofans. The A220 has more than 650 orders so far. More than 100 A220s are currently in service among six operators.

Regional Jets

Mitsubishi’s SpaceJet M90 regional airliner — which was scheduled to enter service this year — won’t be delivered to launch customer All Nippon Airways until 2021, Mitsubishi announced in February.

The 90-seat jet and a smaller SpaceJet type called the M100 which seats 76 passengers in a three-class configuration have been beset with production delays, bureaucratic miscues and cost overruns since the program launched in 2008. Both variants are engined with Pratt & Whitney PW1200G PurePower Geared Turbofans. The M100 is expected to enter service in 2024.

“The market will definitely want another next-generation regional jet,” said Aboulafia. “I think SpaceJet will have a decent future as long as Mitsubishi sticks with it.”

New E-Jet E2

Another new regional airliner — Embraer’s E175-E2 — flew for the first time last December, kicking off a 24-month testing program.

Seating 80 in a two-class configuration, the E175-E2 is the third jewel in the Brazilian plane-maker’s crown of of E-Jet E2s. The jet is powered by twin Pratt & Whitney PW1000G geared turbofans.

The E175 was preceded by the larger E190-E2 and the E195-E2. Embraer boasts about their lower maintenance costs and fuel-saving benefits.

Other Newcomers

China’s state-owned airplane manufacturer Comac (Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China) has been working to bring products to market since 2008.

Comac has delivered more than 20 ARJ21-700 regional jets so far, exclusively to Chinese operators, including Chengdu Airlines, Genghis Khan Airlines and Jiangxi Air.

This aircraft, which seats 90 passengers in an all-economy configuration, is powered by twin, rear-mounted GE CF34 engines.

“It’s incredibly relevant – for 1986,” Aboulafia quipped. “It’s exactly what happens when you have government-owned enterprise designing a science fair experiment.”

Comac also has been working to put a larger single-aisle passenger airliner into service. The C919 — which completed its first flight test in 2017 — is designed to seat about 150 passengers. It’s outfitted with wing-mounted CFM International Leap-1C engines. A Chinese-built AECC CJ-1000A high-bypass turbofan engine is also being developed for the C919.

The C919 has more than 1000 purchase commitments and more than 300 firm orders, primarily from inside China. It’s expected to enter service with launch customer China Eastern Airlines as early as 2021.

Irkut MC-21

After a maiden flight in 2017 and several production delays, Russia’s Irkut MC-21 single-aisle twinjet is expected to enter service in 2021.

It’s powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1000G high-bypass turbofans — which also fly Airbus’s A220, Embraer’s E-Jet E2s and Mitsubishi’s SpaceJet.

Designed by Irkut, the MC-21 is manufactured by United Aircraft Corporation, which is partially owned by the Russian government.

All in all, it looks like the roaring ‘20s are gearing up to be a dynamic decade for the aviation industry. We’ll keep you posted.

Inside the World’s Largest Engine Test Cell By Thom Patterson

by Thom Patterson | Dec 1, 2019 | Innovation

The new engine test facility at the Atlanta, Georgia-based Delta TechOps opened earlier this year. It is, at present, the largest engine test cell in the world. It is designed to accommodate the most powerful engines currently in service, as well as future engines not yet designed or operating.

The moment you step inside the world’s largest engine test cell at Delta TechOps in Atlanta, it’s clear you’ve entered a room specifically designed to handle the next generation of turbofans. Opening for business last February, this $100-million facility is every bit as big, complex and sophisticated as the engines that pass through it.

How big?

To enter the main test chamber, we venture somewhat awestruck through a pair of automated, four-story-tall, 26-foot-wide concrete doors — each weighing more than 300,000 pounds, or 136,000 kilograms. The chamber itself measures about 14.6 meters high by 14.6 meters wide — or 48-by-48 feet. Its bright white walls are dotted with LED lights, reflecting off a pristine concrete floor. One wall consists of a huge filtering screen. During tests, air flows through the screen from an adjacent intake chamber that channels air from outside into the building.

The main chamber of the test cell is rated to test engines with up to 150,000 foot-pounds of thrust.

A technician monitors mulitple display screens during tests.

Appropriately, everything inside the main chamber is dominated by the engine. An over 16,000-pound Rolls-Royce Trent XWB hangs 40 feet overhead, mounted to a steel thrust frame, which itself is bolted directly to the building’s I-beams.

If that sounds a bit extreme, keep in mind this facility routinely runs engines that approach 100,000 foot-pounds of thrust. You want to be double sure the engines don’t get away from you. Think of it like wearing a belt and suspenders to keep your pants up.

Next-gen engines are key to providing fuel-efficient and cleaner-burning power for new and developing airliners. Airlines will rely on these improvements to help maintain profitability into the future. Delta’s new test cell was born from a need for new MRO facilities specifically designed for these new engines.

Designed and built by Aero Systems Engineering (ASE), the cell is built to handle engines that haven’t even been built yet — with more thrust than current engines can produce.

In fact, it’s rated to withstand up to 150,000 foot-pounds of thrust. That’s 35,000 foot-pounds more than the world’s most powerful turbofan currently in service: GE Aviation’s GE90 — which powers Delta’s Boeing 777-200LRs.

Typically, when an engine comes through Delta TechOps, technicians disassemble it, inspect it, repair it and reassemble it. Finally, it goes into the cell for testing. If it doesn’t pass muster in the test chamber, the engine goes back to Delta’s engine shop for additional scrutiny.

All four of Delta’s engine cells together test an average of about 1-4 engines daily – with the 2019 annual total expected to be around 725.

Control Room

Much of the testing work is performed inside the cell’s Control Room, located up a metal stairway and through a heavy door just a few feet from where the engine is mounted.

Inside, a lead technician sits at a Yanos Aerospace control board, keeping a constant eye on multiple display screens, including live video, showing multiple angles of the engine as well as real-time performance data.

The technician brings the engine to life, allowing air to flow from outside the building into the main cell chamber through a 66-feet-tall adjacent intake room.

As the controlled air moves through and around the engine, a team of three or four technicians begins monitoring and recording multiple data metrics, including air pressure, oil pressure, oil temperature, vibration, fuel consumption, fan revolutions and thrust.

The tech initiates a so-called “snap accel” – a quick acceleration test aimed at finding potential anomalies and signs of possible mechanical problems. He pushes forward on a bright silver thrust handle located on the right side of the control board. The mighty machine gains thrust and moves the needles on the display, indicating rising oil and fuel pressure inside the engine and increasing internal rotation speeds.

Delta’s cell is focused on efficiency. They’re basically in and out of that test environment as fast as possible so they can get those engines back on wings.

Knowing that a concrete wall is all that stands between us and a raging machine blowing 84,000 foot-pounds of thrust is – well – kind of a thrill.

Each engine undergoes a battery of tests before it leaves the cell and returns to service, including weather simulation programs that analyze engine performance during heavy winds and other situations.

Exhaust Stack

The engine exhaust along with the jet blast are funneled out the main chamber through a long tunnel located behind the engine, called an augmentor tube.

The tube then shepherds the exhaust to a metal “blast basket” suspended inside the cell’s 78-foot-high, 23.7-meter exhaust stack.

As we stand inside the bottom of the exhaust stack, we realize that here, the engine’s super-heated exhaust often reaches temperatures approaching 800 degrees Celsius, nearly 1,500 Fahrenheit.

Obviously, you don’t want to be standing here during a test.

The blast basket above us quickly cools the violently turbulent exhaust air as it begins to rise toward the top of the room.

Hanging high above the basket are multiple six-feet-tall, two-feet-wide devices called exhaust bar silencers. They’re made of special acoustic materials that absorb sound from the engine — which helps to limit aerodynamic noise pollution outside the building.

Global Customers

The location of Delta TechOps’ massive headquarters, adjacent to a taxiway at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport, dates back to 1960, when the company broke ground on a facility to maintain its first fleet of jets – McDonnell Douglas DC-8s and Convair CV-880s.

According to the annual Oliver Wyman MRO Market Forecast 2019, the pace of growth for engine MRO will have some ups and downs over the next decade. “In the first five years, new engines are expected to lengthen the interval between shop visits with less need to replace life-limited parts and to conduct other scheduled maintenance,” that forecast predicts. They go on to say that the newest generation engines are more fuel-efficient but are using more expensive materials and more complex technologies that “can be quite expensive to replace or repair when the time comes.” Regardless, most engine shops are full right now and seeing unprecedentedly good times.

Nearly 60 years later, Delta TechOps maintains its own fleet of more than 900 airliners along with aircraft owned by more than 150 customers, including Hawaiian Airlines, Virgin Australia and UPS, as well as military and government planes. It has committed its new test cell and engine shop to maintain more than 7,000 engines through the next 30 years.

The airline has grown its MRO business so that it ranks among the world’s biggest, boasting 11,000 technicians, engineers and inspectors spread out across 58 maintenance stations.

Delta’s new test cell is the first to be built by a U.S. airline in more than 20 years, according to the airline. The idea began when executives recognized the market was calling for additional MRO capacity in the next-gen engine space.

Back in 2015, a ground-breaking deal between Delta and Rolls-Royce provided the trigger to move the idea forward. Under the agreement, Rolls-Royce designated Delta TechOps as an Authorized Maintenance Center. In 2018, the relationship expanded to include on-wing services.

Mike Moore, Delta TechOps senior vice president of operations, inventory and logistics, says the facility is the result of years of contract negotiations.

“If it wasn’t for deals that we signed with Rolls-Royce and we subsequently signed with Pratt & Whitney, we wouldn’t have been able to build this facility,” Moore says.

Now, nearly a year after opening its doors, Delta’s new test cell is actively servicing Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 models, following completion of production tests.

In the coming months, production tests and servicing will follow for other types, including Rolls-Royce BR715s and Trent XWBs, as well as Trent 7000s, which power the new fuel-efficient Airbus A330neo widebodies.

The facility also plans to handle Pratt & Whitney’s PW1100 and PW1500 Geared Turbofan engines, which power two new Airbus single-aisle jets: the A321neo and the A220-100.

Rising MRO Earnings

The future for Delta TechOps looks bright. The new test cell and engine shop are expected to result in $1 billion in MRO growth over the next five years.

“We’re expecting growth around the engine space over the next two decades,” says Moore. “And this facility allows us capture part of it. It will be a key part of our growth, going forward.”

Delta wouldn’t share breakout earning figures for the test cell separately, but during a quarterly earnings conference call on October 10, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Gil West revealed that Delta’s MRO business so far in 2019 was up about $120 million — about 23% more than 2018.

West said he expected the next few years would yield benefits from “the investments that we’ve made in terms of capacity from new generation engines, in particular the Rolls Royce Trent engine and the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan.”

In addition, test cells like Delta’s stand to gain from the mountains of performance data generated by next-gen engines.

“By having more of this information, it will allow them to have better visibility into which airline engines are likely to come off in the next 3, 6 or 12 months and in what conditions those are, so they can better plan their capacity and better plan their supply chain in support of that,” says Dan Leblanc, Principal at Oliver Wyman, and a former Pratt & Whitney structural analyst.

Bigger Test Cell

MDS Aero Support, a Canada-based, privately-held corporation is currently building a larger turbofan engine test cell facility for Rolls-Royce in Derby, England.

When completed in 2020, not only will the facility be fully equipped with the latest testing technology, at 7,500m² (80,730ft²) it will be the biggest of its type in the world.

The new test cell, designed and built by MDS, will serve as a laboratory for Rolls-Royce to develop their next generation turbofans, including the company’s UltraFan engine.

“Delta’s cell is focused on efficiency,” says Joe Hajjar, MDS vice president of business development. “They’re basically in and out of that test environment as fast as possible so they can get those engines back on wings, but the new Rolls-Royce facility will be focused on research and development, where test engineers will push the engines to their limits while collecting as much data as possible.”

“Typically, we’ll measure 3,000 – 5,000 measurements, some at over 100 times a second, with less mature engines, whereas a service facility may measure 150-300 measurements with certified engines,” says Hajjar. “So you can see the objectives and challenges are quite different between an experimental test cell and a cell for MRO operations.”

We believe we’re changing the game in terms of giving the OEMs the ability to measure a lot of data very, very accurately and very quickly.

As part of a wider company investment of £150 million, or about $194 million in UK aerospace facilities — Hajjar says the new Rolls-Royce test cell will be outfitted with the most advanced technologies, including the ability to inspect internal engine components via X-ray imaging. The facility’s walls will measure 5.5 feet or 1.7 meters thick.

Based in Ottawa, MDS Aero Support boasts over 500 people across its various subsidiaries and support offices — helping to make it among the world’s largest firms that both operates and designs and builds multi-million-dollar testing facilities across the aviation and industrial sectors.

“With both test operators and designers under one corporation, we have a unique perspective of our customers’ needs and we continue to invest in testing technologies that help our clients produce better products,” Hajjar says. “We also recognize the investments our customers make are mission critical, and they require the most advanced solutions to ensure they have accurate and reliable data.”

“At MDS, we believe we’re changing the game in terms of giving the OEMs the ability to measure a lot of data very, very accurately and very quickly,” says Hajjar. “We’re talking about a new IT-based technology that we developed to measure an aggregate of a million channels every second with zero loss, and absolute certainty.”

Growth Drivers

Although there currently are only a handful of comparable large turbofan test cells like Delta’s, industry experts predict more will be built — especially in Asia — where more aircraft are on order than are currently in service, according to IATA and Flight Global.

Although ASE built China Airlines a new test cell a decade ago in Taiwan, its thrust rating is 120,000 foot-pounds – 30,000 foot-pounds less than Delta’s.

Korean Air opened its large test cell in 2016 in Incheon, South Korea. The cell, also built by ASE, measures 14 meters by 14 meters – slightly smaller than Delta’s, but rated the same: 150,000 foot-pounds.

Ultimately, overall growth in the number of test cells will be determined by engine manufacturers.

“They want to maintain a proper balance of test capacity, MRO services and parts supply in order to service the airlines at optimum efficiency,” says David Marcontell, senior vice president at consulting firm Oliver Wyman CAVOK. “As more large engines are delivered and on wing, there will be a need for more capacity.”

The Electric Age is Already Here By Thom Patterson

Changing How We Fly

First Type-Certified Electric

Electrifying Existing Planes

Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Super Batteries

Voltage Challenges

Other Hurdles

In 2021…

In 2022…

In 2023…

In 2024…

From 2025 to 2035…

Transportation Tapestry