Airbus Updates No.302

 

Paris Airshow: Gulf Air opts for IAE engines to power new extended range A321

Posted on 21 June 2011 in Air Transport

Gulf Air is the launch customer of the latest IAE engine, the V2500 SelectTwo for six A321 aircraft it ordered at the Paris Air Show.
The Bahrain carrier has traditionally been a CFM customer, but switched to the new IAE powerplant (IAE is a joint venture company between Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, Japanese Aero Engines and MTU) for the extended range Airbus narrowbodies.
“We are pleased to be selected to provide Gulf Air with not only their first V2500 power-plants, but as the first customer to order our new SelectTwo offering,” said Ian Aitken, president of IAE. “I am confident they made the right decision based on performance, reliability and maintainability that the V2500 SelectTwo will provide for their fleet.”


PICTURED: Samer Majali, Gulf Air chief executive officer and Mr. Ian Aitken, president of IAE sign the agreement.
The list price for the engines is around $180million, but Gulf Air was said to have struck a hard bargain for the engines - as well as benefiting from fuel savings with the new technology.
“The competitive fleet hourly offering from IAE and fuel burn advantage were key characteristics that assured us that the V2500 was the right engine for us,” said Gul air chief executive Samer Majali.  “Superb technology and world-class reliability were also important factors in our decision.