Wizz Air Selects RTX Pratt & Whitney GTF� Engines to Power Up to an Additional 177 Airbus A321neo Aircraft
- Significant expansion of GTF engine orders to power 177 additional aircraft
- Long-term EngineWise Comprehensive service agreement secured for maintenance
- Special support package included to enhance operational stability
- GTF engines provide superior fuel efficiency and lower emissions
- Wizz Air becomes first airline to operate A321XLR with GTF engines
- Reference to need for support package suggests potential operational challenges with grounded aircraft
- Significant financial commitment required for large engine order
Insights
RTX secures major engine order from Wizz Air worth billions, strengthening their long-term partnership despite recent GTF reliability issues.
This announcement represents a significant commercial win for RTX's Pratt & Whitney division, as Wizz Air selects GTF engines for an additional 177 Airbus A321neo aircraft. The deal brings Wizz Air's total GTF-powered fleet commitment to 453 aircraft, making them one of P&W's largest European customers.
The agreement includes a long-term EngineWise Comprehensive service contract, which typically generates 2-3 times the initial engine purchase value over the lifecycle. For perspective, each A321neo requires two engines, putting this order around 354 engines with a potential value of several billion dollars when including both hardware and services.
What's particularly notable is that Wizz Air is continuing with P&W despite the well-documented GTF reliability issues that have plagued the engine program. The press release subtly acknowledges these challenges by mentioning a "special support package to enhance operational stability during this period and mitigate the financial and operational impact of grounded aircraft." This indicates RTX likely offered significant concessions to secure this order.
The mention of the GTF Advantage variant is important as it represents P&W's efforts to address performance issues while increasing thrust capability for the A321XLR. Wizz Air becoming the first airline globally to operate the A321XLR with GTF engines gives RTX a valuable launch customer for this critical engine variant.
This order reinforces Wizz Air's strategy to operate a young, fuel-efficient fleet, which helps control operating costs as a low-cost carrier while meeting increasingly stringent environmental regulations in Europe.
Announcement brings order total to 453 GTF-powered aircraft
József Váradi, CEO of Wizz Air, commented:
"Our relationship with Pratt & Whitney has been instrumental in supporting our growth strategy, which will enable Wizz Air to have a fleet of 500 aircraft within a decade. GTF engine technology delivers the most economical solution, providing unmatched fuel efficiency while enabling quieter and less emitting flights for our passengers, and a lower cost base for the airline. This agreement is in line with our Customer First Compass strategy which puts the customer in the focus also by providing the best-in-class aircraft technology with the lowest emission intensity per passenger kilometre."
Pratt & Whitney currently powers the airline's fleet of 163 A320neo family aircraft with GTF engines, and 73 A320ceo family aircraft with IAE V2500® engines.
Rick Deurloo, Commercial Engines President of Pratt & Whitney, stated:
"Today marks another important milestone in our long-standing relationship with Wizz Air and is a vote of confidence in the GTF engine. Pratt & Whitney has been exclusively powering the airline's growth since 2003, and our GTF engines will continue to deliver the lowest fuel consumption available."
Wizz Air is the largest A320neo-family operator in
About Pratt & Whitney
Pratt & Whitney, an RTX business, is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines and auxiliary power units for both military and civil aviation customers. Since 1925, our engineers and scientists have pioneered the development of revolutionary aircraft propulsion technologies, and today we support more than 90,000 in-service engines through our global network of maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities.
About RTX
RTX is the world's largest aerospace and defense company. With more than 185,000 global employees, we push the limits of technology and science to redefine how we connect and protect our world. Through industry-leading businesses � Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon � we are advancing aviation, engineering integrated defense systems for operational success, and developing next-generation technology solutions and manufacturing to help global customers address their most critical challenges. The company, with 2024 sales of more than
For questions or to schedule an interview, please contact [email protected].
About Wizz Air
Wizz Air operates a fleet of 236 Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft, with an average age of 4.56 years. A team of dedicated aviation professionals delivers superior service and very low fares, making Wizz Air the preferred choice of 62.8 million passengers in 2024. Wizz Air is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker WIZZ. The company was recently named one of the world's top ten safest airlines by airlineratings.com, the world's only safety and product rating agency, and named Airline of the Year by Air Transport Awards in 2019 and in 2023. Wizz Air has also been recognized as the "Most Sustainable Low-Cost Airline" within 2021-2023 and "Best Airline for Carbon Reduction" by World Finance Sustainability Awards in 2024. Wizz Air also received "EMEA's Environmental Sustainability Airline Group of the Year" by the CAPA-Centre for Aviation Awards for Excellence 2024.
Notes for Editors:
- Anchored in four key pillars - Product, Price, Service and Communication - the outlines Wizz Air's future direction and renewed commitment to its customers, from investing in state-of-the-art technology, improving reliability, and delivering enhanced customer support. The transformation marks a step change in how the airline services its customers. The airline will be investing
�14 billion over the next three years to enhance every customer touchpoint to ensure that punctuality, affordability, innovation and service shape every journey. - AllWizz Air flights are operated on Airbus A320 aircraft with 180 seats, Airbus A320neo with 186 seats, A321 aircraft with 230 seats and Airbus A321neo aircraft with 239 seats.
- For free pictures of aircraft, crews and logo library please visithttps://wizzair.com/en-gb/information-and-services/about-us/press-office/.
- For more information aboutWizz Air sustainability efforts please see from page 179.
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SOURCE RTX