The engine Pratt Whitney believes will power the next generation of short-haul airliners has been tested for the first time. The Geared Turbofan (GTF) demonstrator engine ran for the first time, ahead of schedule, at the company’s advanced test facility in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Ground testing will run through to May 2008, and flight testing on PW’s 747 flying test bed will begin in mid-2008. “We are confident that this demonstrator engine will meet all performance expectations and validate the game-changing characteristics of the Geared Turbofan engine.” says Bob Saia, vice president of PW’s next generation product family.

The GTF engine is designed to give improvements in fuel burn estimated at around 12%, along with significant reductions in engine noise, emissions and operating costs. The engine has a fan drive gear system allows the engine’s fan to operate at a different speed to that of the low-pressure compressor and turbine, resulting in grea

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