100 years of Pratt & Whitney – MTU grows along with them

The black-and-white photographs in the MTU Aero Engines company archive look much more than 40 years old: they were taken in the 1980s, but there’s nothing to be seen of the decade’s colorful cheerfulness. Distinguished men in muted suits and ties, champagne glasses in their hands, look into the camera in a friendly yet serious manner appropriate to the occasion.

The location: a meeting room at MTU in Munich. The date: September 16, 1983. The occasion: signing a collaboration agreement for a new engine consortium that spans five companies over three continents—International Aero Engines (IAE). The partners back then: Pratt & Whitney (P&W), Rolls-Royce, Japanese Aero Engines Corporation (JAEC), Fiat Avio, and MTU. Their common goal: develop an engine with 25,000 pounds of thrust, designed for narrowbody aircraft that can carry 100 to 200 passengers. Even back then, narrowbodies with this passenger capacity were the most sought-after models worldwide.

The new engine was designated the “V2500,” where the “V” stands for the five companies involved and the “25” for the targeted thrust class.

New players for the single-aisle market

Back then, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas (still separate companies) dominated the market with their 727, 737, and MD-80 models; their growing European competitor Airbus had only just started developing its own single-aisle model. The official program launch for today’s A320 family was in March 1984. Development of the V2500 engine also began at around the same time. It was based on Pratt & Whitney’s PW2000, in the development of which MTU had already proven itself to be a reliable partner. This is why the German company was once again on board for the new project, this time as a risk and revenue share (RRS) partner. MTU initially held a 12.1 percent share, which mainly comprised the low-pressure turbine. When Rolls-Royce withdrew from the program in 2012, MTU increased its share to 16 percent. According to Michael Schreyögg, Chief Program Officer at MTU, this was “one of the largest acquisitions in MTU history.”

In September 1988, the newly certified Airbus A320 with the V2500 engines made its debut at the Farnborough International Airshow. Both programs grew slowly at first, with sales forecasts of a few hundred aircraft. Adria Airways, a charter airline from Ljubljana in Slovenia, received the first aircraft in 1989. By the time IAE celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2023, 7,850 of the engines had been delivered, 5,280 of which are still in operation.

Development goal: Save on fuel

With its digital fly-by-wire controls and state-of-the-art cockpit, the A320 clearly set itself apart from its competitor Boeing 737, some 20 years its senior—but this was also due in no small part to new engines that enabled substantial fuel savings. Since at least the oil crisis of the 1970s, it’s been clear that development of new propulsion systems had to focus primarily on reducing fuel consumption.

The V2500 was still in production, but Pratt & Whitney, MTU, and the then Fiat Avio began initial preliminary tests for a geared turbofan engine. Their idea was that positioning a gearbox between the fan and low-pressure turbine ought to improve the efficiency of both components—and reduce fuel consumption further as a result.

Geared turbofan cleared for takeoff

In the Advanced Technology Fan Integrator (ATFI) technology project, based on a PW6000 core engine, Pratt & Whitney and MTU continued their preliminary investigations in the early 2000s. They thus created the basis for the patented geared turbofan program, which was launched in 2008. The new concept promised to cut fuel consumption by 15 percent.

Here, too, the market was skeptical at first. The first step came from Japan: Mitsubishi selected the geared turbofan as the exclusive engine for the innovation it was planning, the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ). Bombardier followed suit with the C Series (now the A220), the Russian Irkut MS-21 was to fly with geared turbofan engines, and Embraer selected them exclusively for its E2 series. However, the real breakthrough came in 2010 with Airbus’s A320neo, which comes with either the LEAP engine from CFM International or the PW1100G-JM from the GTF family. “We’ve sold around 8,000 units of the V2500 and expect to sell around 15,000 of the geared turbofan,” Schreyögg said at the recent Paris Air Show 2025.

Together into a green future

Inspired by these successes, Pratt & Whitney and MTU are further expanding their partnership, setting a course for sustainable flight. Since 2021, they’ve been working on technical improvements to the geared turbofan; for example, with more powerful active gap control in the high-speed low-pressure turbine. The maiden flight of the GTF Advantage, with high-pressure compressor, low-pressure turbine, and remote support from MTU, took place in March 2021 at Pratt & Whitney’s Mirabel Aerospace Centre in Canada; the maiden flight on an A320neo took place in October 2022 in Toulouse. The optimized engine offers better fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emissions. In February 2025, the FAA granted it type certification. According to Pratt & Whitney, the first delivery is scheduled for the end of 2025.

This is by no means the last chapter in the two companies’ shared history. “Several years ago, the IAE collaboration agreement was extended to 2045, and the geared turbofan is only now really starting to ramp up,” says Dr. Christian Winkler, GTF Program Manager at MTU. “We are certainly be open to higher program shares.” MTU and Pratt & Whitney also want to work together on future propulsion technologies; for example, with synthetic fuels and with electric or hydrogen support.