MTU Aero Engines hands over the 300th modules for the engine powering the A380
The Airbus A380 sets a benchmark for low fuel burn and low noise. The world’s largest commercial aircraft owes its high efficiency and amazing noise level to no small degree to its GP7000 engines, in which MTU Aero Engines has a stake of 22.5 percent. Three months ago, the 250th engine was handed over to Airbus in Toulouse for final assembly, and now Germany’s leading engine manufacturer has completed and delivered the 300th low-pressure turbine and the 300th turbine center frame. “The GP7000 has impressively demonstrated its high reliability in more than 1.5 million flight hours,” explains Michael Schreyögg, Member of the Board of Management, Programs, MTU Aero Engines. “In terms of fuel consumption and emissions, the engine consistently performs at levels much better than the specifications,” he adds.
Even though the A380 is about 118 metric tons heavier than the Boeing 747, and its GP7000 engines must provide more thrust than the 747’s propulsion system to lift that additional weight, the world’s largest passenger airliner produces only half the noise generated by the Jumbo Jet at takeoff and landing; it moreover burns only three liters per 100 passenger kilometers. MTU contributes the six-stage low-pressure turbine to the GP7000, a component that is particularly efficient and – thanks to the cut-off design of the last three stages – extremely quiet. In this design, the blade-to-vane ratios are selected such that the sound waves produced in the turbine cannot propagate.
After five years in service on the A380, the first GP7000 engines are due to be sent in for scheduled maintenance this year. The low-pressure turbines are supported by MTU Maintenance Hannover, which performs part of the repairs. Some of the components are sent to specialized MTU shops: to Airfoil Services Sdn. Bhd. (ASSB) in Kota Damansara in Malaysia, a joint venture of MTU and Lufthansa Technik, to MTU Aero Engines in Munich, and to MTU Aero Engines Polska in Rzeszów in the south-east of Poland.
The GP7000 is built by Engine Alliance, a joint venture of General Electric and Pratt & Whitney. MTU is the third-largest partner in the program and contributes the low-pressure turbine, the turbine center frame and components of the high-pressure turbine. Production of the parts for which MTU is responsible takes place in Munich, where the company has its headquarters.
