C Series Delivery Has Cultural Impact
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2016
One plane. Two engines. One enthusiastic nation.
"We're not done. We also have to stay really vigilant that we are making sure the whole experience for the customer is as smooth and seamless as possible," said Doug Freiberg, chief engineer of the PW1500G and 1900G programs.
Freiberg stresses the delivery of this airBaltic C Series CS300 has cultural meaning.
"Actually the whole nation is very excited, the whole nation of Latvia. The airBaltic is the flagship carrier for the Latvian nation and every month in their magazine that's in the seatback pocket, there's a new feature about the C Series aircraft," Freiberg said.
It's a significant milestone for the Geared Turbofan™ family, as this aircraft represents the first CS300 to go into revenue service. (The aircraft made its first revenue flight on Wednesday.) It is another example of a customer capitalizing on the revolutionary technology the Geared Turbofan™ engine offers.
"It means we have to ready 24/7. We have internal people and external people, customer service engineers who are here to support the airline operator without any question, issue or problem that may develop at any time regarding PW-15," said Joseph Snyder, manager, Customer Technical Service for the PW1500G.
"It could be argued that this is a first for the industry. I mean, we typically do not see engines coming out of the box meeting their weight and performance and their noise guarantees, especially weight and performance. The whole industry has a history of spending multiple months, multiple years, millions of dollars in performance and weight and improvement programs which we didn't have to do after certification," Freiberg said.
airBaltic has ordered 20 of Bombardier's sleek CS300 jets. If one plane is creating so much buzz, imagine the reception 20 will get.
"Back in the 1990s when we introduced the PW4000, those were great times for Pratt & Whitney. And history is repeating itself again as we introduce this whole family of Geared Turbofan™ engines. It's very, very important to our airline industry as well as to Pratt & Whitney and United Technologies," Snyder said.
"It's really exciting. Again, it's not the sort of thing you think about while you are in the midst of it. You really have to sort of take a moment and reflect and say, 'Wow, this is really cool,'" Freiberg said.