IF all options and purchase rights are exercised, a total of 469 engines, at a list price value of $14 billion, including maintenance contracts, will be ordered by Etihad Airways, representing the largest engine order in commercial aviation history.
The engines have been ordered to power the new Airbus and Boeing aircraft ordered at last year’s Farnborough International Airshow by the Abu Dhabi based national airline of the United Arab Emirates. The deal which included 100 firm orders and options and purchase rights for a further 105 aircraft will be delivered between 2011 and 2020.
Etihad Airways announced that it had placed firm orders at the Paris Airshow last month for the following engines: 78 GEnx engines to power the 35 new Boeing 787 aircraft; 45 Engine Alliance GP7200 engines to power the 10 new Airbus A380 aircraft; 44 IAE V2500 engines to power the 20 new narrow body Airbus A320 aircraft.
Rolls-Royce and GE Aviation will supply engines for the airline’s new Airbus A350 fleet and future Boeing 777 aircraft deliveries, respectively, as previously announced at Farnborough. Also ordered were 50 Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, to power the 25 new Airbus A350 aircraft and 22 GE90 engines, to power its 10 new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
A key selection criterion in all the deals has been the environmental performance of the engines. The engines Etihad Airways has chosen for its wide-body long range aircraft are amongst the most technically advanced and fuel efficient available and will help maintain the airline’s fleet as one of the greenest in the sky.
The engines are particularly suitable for Middle East operations and are able to perform consistently well in high temperatures. The airline already operates a fleet of ten V2500 powered aircraft with three more to be delivered later this year, and was the launch customer for V2500 SelectOne in the Gulf region.
So far this year, the airline has started new flights to Melbourne, Istanbul, Athens, Larnaca and Astana in Kazakhstan. Etihad will also launch new services in September to Chicago.