Pratt & Whitney Completes First PurePower® PW1524G Engine

MIDDLETOWN, Conn., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pratt & Whitney has completed assembly on its first PurePower PW1524G engine for the Bombardier* CSeries* aircraft and will deliver the engine to the company's West Palm Beach, Fla., facility later this month to initiate testing. The engine Last Bolt Ceremony was held today at Pratt & Whitney's Middletown Engine Center in Connecticut. This engine marks the beginning of an eight-engine validation and certification program. Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company.

"Completion of the first PW1524G engine for testing is an important milestone for the CSeries aircraft program," Benjamin Boehm, vice president, Commercial Aircraft Programs for Bombardier, told Pratt & Whitney employees at the Last Bolt Ceremony today.  "We have worked closely with Pratt & Whitney engineers over the past two years to optimize engine performance as we integrated this powerplant into our airplane design. We are very pleased with the progress of the engine program to date and that Pratt & Whitney has completed first engine assembly on time."

"When we told the world that this engine would change everything, we meant it," said Bob Saia, vice president, Next Generation Product Family.  "The completion of this first full PW1524G engine on time keeps the program on schedule to deliver its extraordinary benefits to customers in 2013.  Earlier this year we completed our engine core test program, demonstrating performance and operability on our design targets. This engine will be tested to supplement the core testing, enabling us to demonstrate the full engine performance. Our engine is not a concept.  It is real and we have data to validate our product capability."

The PW1500G engine test program will run a total of eight test engines over the next 24 months with engine certification and aircraft first flight scheduled for 2012.  Entry into service is scheduled for 2013.  Bombardier has sold CSeries aircraft to German flag carrier, Deutsche Lufthansa, Lease Corporation International and Republic Airways.

Pratt & Whitney recently concluded PurePower engine core testing with more than 260 accumulated test hours.  In addition to the core testing, Pratt & Whitney has performed critical module-level testing for the PurePower engine program, including fan drive gear system testing with simulations of more than 60,000 takeoffs and landings, and hundreds of hours of testing on the low and high-pressure compressor with advanced designs meeting or exceeding efficiency and operability goals.

Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and building industries.

This release includes "forward looking statements" concerning anticipated business opportunities that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including with regard to the programs described in this release.  Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or implied in forward looking statements include the impact of deterioration or extended weakness in global economic conditions on demand for our products and services, the financial strength of customers and suppliers and on levels of air travel; and challenges in the design, development, production and support of advanced technologies and new products and services.  For information identifying other important economic, political, regulatory, legal, technological, competitive and other uncertainties, see UTC's 10-K, 10-Q and other reports filed with the SEC.

* Bombardier and CSeries are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries.

For more information on the Pratt & Whitney PurePower engine, visit www.purepowerengines.com

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SOURCE Pratt & Whitney