Pratt & Whitney PurePower® Engine for Airbus A320neo Successfully Completes Ground Test Program: Prepares for First Flight Tests

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Apr 11, 2013, 08:00 ET

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., April 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The first Pratt & Whitney PurePower® PW1100G-JM engine for the Airbus A320neo family of aircraft successfully completed ground testing at the company's West Palm Beach, Fla., test facility. The engine completed over 120 hours of testing, validating overall engine operation and fuel efficiency. The engine will next undergo flight testing on the company's experimental 747 airplane at the Mirabel Aerospace Centre in Quebec, Canada. Pratt & Whitney is a division of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX).

Two additional engines are under test as part of the company's eight engine test program. A fourth engine is in its final assembly stage and will initiate testing next month.

"We are extremely pleased with our test progress to date," said Bob Saia, vice president, Commercial Development Programs. "We now have over 4,500 hours of engine testing with our geared turbofan program family. The PW1100G-JM engine testing is going extremely well. We have leveraged our product line design strategy, common architecture and scaling to drive early engine maturity. Our first PW1100G-JM demonstrated performance better than our pre-test forecast."

The PW1100G-JM engine, rated up to 33,000 pounds of thrust, is the first engine model to be certified and enter service on the A320neo. Pratt & Whitney has been selected by 13 customers totaling more than 1,400 PW1100G-JM firm orders. Entry into service will begin in late 2015.

The PurePower PW1000G series engines use an advanced gear system allowing the engine's fan to operate at a different speed than the low-pressure compressor and turbine. The combination of the gear system and an all-new advanced core deliver double-digit improvements in fuel efficiency, environmental emissions and noise.

Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, auxiliary and ground power units, small turbojet propulsion products 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. Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or implied in forward looking statements include the effect of economic conditions in the markets in which we operate, including financial market conditions, and fluctuation in interest rates, commodity prices and foreign currency exchange rates; levels of end market demand in the aerospace industry, including levels of demand for the new aircraft described in this release; levels of air travel; financial difficulties of commercial airlines; the financial condition of suppliers; 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.

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

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