Pratt & Whitney extends its EcoPower engine wash service to the Middle East and North Africa
Pratt & Whitney EcoPower Engine Wash system
Tue 24 Nov 2009 – Engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney has signed an agreement with Saudi Arabian Airlines that will provide for the airline to wash its own engines and those of other commercial airlines that fly within the Kingdom. Initially, two EcoPower service centres will be located in Jeddah and Riyadh, with options to expand to other locations. Pratt & Whitney claims the engine wash system can reduce fuel burn and emissions by as much as 1.2% and says it is more effective and much faster than traditional engine wash processes. One such traditional manufacturer is Juniper of Liverpool, UK, who is to supply AeroSvit Ukrainian Airlines with its Multi-Engine Compressor Rig.
As an EcoPower operator, Saudi Arabian Airlines will have the capability to wash all engine types within its fleet and nearly any commercial aero engine in service today.
“Increasing fuel efficiency and decreasing CO2 emissions are top priorities for Saudi Arabian Airlines,” said the airline’s Director General, Khaled Abdullah Almolhem.
“We are pleased to expand the availability of EcoPower engine wash services through this partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines,” said Todd Kallman, President, Commercial Engines & Global Services, Pratt & Whitney. “We hope to see continued expansion into the Middle East/North Africa region.”
The EcoPower system uses a closed-loop system with pure, atomized water to wash aircraft engines, avoiding potential contaminant runoff. The system is more effective and much faster than traditional engine washing processes, says Pratt & Whitney.
Ukrainian airline AeroSvit has announced that it has purchased a Multi-Engine Compressor Washing Rig from Juniper Aircraft Service Equipment based in Liverpool, UK. The airline plans to use the rig to wash the CFM56-3 engines of its Boeing 737 fleet.
“We will soon perform engine washes on our Boeing 767 aircraft,” added Volodymyr Gaidash, AeroSvit’s PR Director. “We expect to decrease fuel consumption by 3% per year. This represents about 3,000 tons of fuel, making it a great contributor to environmental protection.”
Juniper’s 2x25 gallon compressor washing rig has now been in continuous production for ten years and the company has over 300 aviation customers worldwide. The company says it is versatile enough to tackle most engines yet manoeuvrable enough for the remotest areas of an airfield.
