It’s actually quite fascinating!
The airlines choose which engines Boeing or Airbus install on their aircraft. The heavy hitters are Pratt and Whitney, General Electric, and Rolls Royce. '
It was more common years ago, but for several models all three of the above engine manufactures designed engines for the same plane and competed for each airline to select their engine to be used on their models.
It get super complicated - Rolls Royce would say to United select our JT548 for your fleet of triple 7’s and we will give you 2 years maintenance, 20 backup engines, and four simulators etc. etc. Then General Electric would sit down with United to court them and say I can give 3 years maintenance, 225 overhauls and train your mechanics in the purchase price if you select our P454.
Then Pratt will come back and say ok well pick up transitional training for your flight crews. They present, for lack of a better term efficiency (like mph!), time between overhauls etc. etc.
If once the deal is struck and when the airplane hits the skies both airplane manufacturers and engine manufacturers are “fined” performance penalties if the aircraft do not meet criteria (promised) in the sales meetings.
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Its cut throat and vicious –billions and billions are at stake! It takes years, starts while the aircraft itself is still in the design phase and changes endlessly over the years before the first machine rolls of the line!
Bob I can’t get below empty weight of 394 tons – Ok I think we can get you up to 85,000 pounds of thrust – we should be ok
The jet manufactures spend millions designing them but the real money is getting your engine hung on as many planes as you can and getting the lucrative decades longs maintenance part of the deal – that is where they make their development costs back –after the sale!
No airliner can be built with a launch customer (in 777 it was United). They are the first carrier to commit to buying the aircraft and get the whole deal rolling- and the launch customer is treated as royalty!
All the airlines (like people with cars!) custom their planes – some want *advertiser censored* seats, some want pink bathrooms, some want Honeywell transponders, some want extended range, some want more thrust, some want first class,. Some want all economy seating, some want green carpet it’s unreal!!
And Boeing created an assembly line (first time that has been done) where from start to finish each machine moves through the factory at like 2 mph !
Boeings Dreamliner is in a MESS right now!
Hope I am not boring you!
