By Howard Hardee • Editor
September 24, 2026
U.S. enginemaker Pratt & Whitney has delivered the first GTF Advantage turbofan to an airline customer, marking what the company believes will be a turning point in the program’s history.
United Airlines recently took delivery of an Airbus A321XLR powered by a pair of the upgraded geared turbofans (GTFs), which P&W says will deliver improved thrust and fuel efficiency compared to present-day engines.
The Advantage engines feature a new hot section, with upgrades allowing for “up to twice the time on wing compared to today’s GTF engine,” P&W said.
P&W markets the GTF Advantage as capable of delivering 4-8% more takeoff thrust than present-generation GTF engines, “enabling longer range capability.” Photo credit: P&W
The company says the new units are “fully intermixable and interchangeable with today’s GTF engine model, simplifying operations for airlines like United that maintain combined fleets.”
P&W has been grappling with a massively disruptive, years-long recall of GTF engines, which are one engine option for the A320neo family, and also power A220s and Embraer E190-E2 family jets, though issues with the PW1500G and PW1900G engines that power A220s and E2s, respectively, are nearly resolved. Issues with the larger PW1100G engines that power A320neos will take longer to work through.
During the company’s earnings call in July, P&W said that year-over-year PW1100 aircraft-on-ground levels had declined by 25% year to date.
As the enginemaker has accelerated engine removals and inspections to address a powdered metal manufacturing defect, hundreds of narrowbodies have been grounded globally on a rolling basis since July 2025.
However, P&W has been expanding maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) capacity to address durability issues with critical GTF components. During a pre-Farnborough International Airshow briefing with reporters in July, Rick Deurloo, the president of P&W’s commercial engines unit, declined to put a hard date on when the company’s GTF headaches will be fully in the rearview mirror.
“What I would say…is that we continue to make incredible progress,” he said. “Without giving you a time period, I think if you went to our customers, they’d tell you it feels sooner than they were anticipating. I’m not going to put a hard date on it. But, by the end of this year, we’re going to be in a really good position to finally, in 2027 or 2028, kind of get this behind us.”
Earlier this year, P&W secured FAA and EASA certification for the GTF Advantage.
A full production cutover is expected in 2028, meaning that, by then, P&W will be delivering all GTF Advantage units on new aircraft. The company also intends to roll out additional materials and improvements for GTF engines over the next several years.
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