Perm reveals plans for new PS-90 promising considerable improvement in operating costs

Published: 9/6/1999

According to Perm's Aviadvigatel Chief Designer Alexander Inozemtsev, the company has signed a contract to supply a number of airlines with 282 new PS-90A2 engines. The new variant of the engine PS-90A will be ready in two years and will be delivered over a period of 5 to 7 years. The customers for the new engines according to Inozemtsev will be those airlines currently operating Tu-204s, Il-96-300s and Il-76s. These include Domodedovo Airline, Aeroflot, TransEuropean Airlines, Vnukovo Airlines, Kaminvodyavia, Krasnoyarsk Airlines, Ilavia, Atlant Soyuz and Perm Airlines. Inozemtsev noted that for the first time in Russia, the project will have broad international involvement led by their shareholder Pratt & Whitney, involving companies from the USA, France, Sweden and Germany. The Chief Designer would not reveal what improvements the new engine might bring to its operators, but did comment that he expected substantial reduction in operating expenses. Generally the image of the PS-90A has progressed significantly over the last 12 months. With rumours of considerable assistance from P&W, the engine's reliability has been substantially improved, through tackling issues such as operation at high and low temperatures. This improvement has been demonstrated by recent figures from Aeroflot, which according to reports suggested that the airline may have overcome its uncomfortable relationship with the Il-96-300, which had substantial operating problems largely due to its power plant and is now beginning to achieve high level of availability. The number of engines is still surprisingly high, given the number of Tu-204s and Il-96-300s in service, and with the re-engined Il-76 still to be sold to anyone other than Ilavia, Ilyushin's own cargo carrier. Although two aircraft were ordered in the 1996 budget by the Russian Military Transport Aviation, but according to reports remain undelivered.

Article ID: 830