Amid the ongoing issues with Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan engines, which have led to delivery delays for Airbus and even grounded planes for maintenance, Cebu Pacific may be rethinking the idea of relying on just one aircraft manufacturer for its fleet. At the recent Aviation Summit, the airline revealed plans to place an aircraft order. Cebu Pacific is now considering the Boeing 737 MAX as an option and will assess it thoroughly before making the final purchase.
Cebu Pacific CEO Mike Shucz said, “In the coming week or two, we will formally launch the request for proposal and may the best man win. It will be one or the other, we’re not gonna split it between the two. It could be that we order a whole load of new Airbus again, or it could be we order a whole load of Boeing. We think the whole process will take three to six months, hopefully.”
What Are the Chances Cebu Pacific Might Choose Boeing?
When the aviation industry recovered strongly after the pandemic, Cebu Pacific reactivated all of its stored aircraft while taking delivery of brand new Airbus A320neo and A321neo planes. Their plan was to shift to an all-Airbus NEO fleet by 2027. However, another crisis has taken a toll on Cebu Pacific. First, there’s the parts crisis as airlines worldwide were reactivating their fleets. You can’t just put an aircraft in the air after it has been stored for a long time. Extensive checks and maintenance are needed to ensure the planes are airworthy and in proper flying condition.
Second, there are the Pratt & Whitney issues. Cebu Pacific’s A320neos and A321neos use Pratt & Whitney PW1100G geared turbofan engines. While these engines are efficient, they face maintenance issues. The Pratt & Whitney PW1100G GTF engines require maintenance after only 6,000 cycles, compared to their predecessor, the CFM56 engine found on older generation A320s and A321s, which require extensive checks after 20,000 take-off and landing cycles.
Now, the PW GTF engines face another issue: metal contamination in some parts of the engine, which may lead to corrosion. As a result, Pratt & Whitney is recalling more than a thousand PW1100G GTF engines to address this metal contamination. This will require airlines to ground a number of A320neos and A321neos using this engine. Cebu Pacific is one of those airlines affected, with 16 A320neo and 11 A321neo currently in their fleet.
Is a Single Aircraft Manufacturer Fleet Still Feasible?
While having a single aircraft manufacturer fleet technically saves more money in terms of maintenance and training costs, it’s proving otherwise for Cebu Pacific. The airline uses an all-Airbus fleet with their A320neos and A321neos using the PW1100G GTF turbofan engine. While these planes have a very low fuel burn, ranging from 15% to 20% compared to older engines, expenses from canceled flights, flight delays, and maintenance are definitely catching up.
As a result, Cebu Pacific is now considering diversifying its fleet by possibly ordering Boeing planes, particularly the 737 MAX, which uses the CFM LEAP 1B engine.
The difference between the CFM LEAP 1B found on the 737 MAX and the PW1100G family is that CFM took an approach to develop components that can be run at higher temperatures. Pratt & Whitney tackled the problem another way by adding a gearbox between the low turbine and fan. The gearing is designed to run both the fan and low turbine at their most efficient speeds. Both approaches yield an increase in thrust specific fuel efficiency (TSFC), which is the industry measure of efficiency. All other turbofan jet engines run their low turbine and fan at the same speed. Neither is running at their most efficient speed, so there’s always a design choice that has to be made. This normally results in neither fan nor low turbines running at their most efficient speeds.
A More Diverse Fleet
Cebu Pacific and Airbus are currently facing issues due to the Pratt & Whitney GTF engines, and Cebu Pacific is definitely not happy. In fact, diversifying their fleet may be more cost-efficient after all, as this will allow the airline to have more redundancy in case a manufacturer faces some issues.
“So that we haven’t got all our eggs in one basket, and that is an argument. Frankly, we will look at the right outcome financially and operationally, but both products are really good. The Boeing 737 Max is an excellent product and we know because we fly around at the moment,” Szucs said.
Just last month, Cebu Pacific officials visited the Boeing headquarters at Everett to take a closer look at the Boeing 737 MAX. Soon, the airline will issue a Request for Proposal for both Airbus and Boeing as they prepare for another round of aircraft orders, which they claim will be the largest aircraft order in Philippine aviation history.
While I don’t want to preempt any decision, there is still a possibility that Boeing will make a comeback to the Philippines. Currently, only Philippine Airlines uses Boeing planes, the 777-300ER. However, let’s not also forget that PAL will go for another round of widebody aircraft orders to replace their current A330-300, and aviation analysts have their bets on the Boeing 787. So do I.
First love never dies. I fell in love with airplanes and aviation when I was a kid. My dream was to become a pilot, but destiny led me to another path: to be an aviation digital media content creator and a small business owner. My passion for aviation inspires me to bring you quality content through my website and social accounts. Aviation is indeed in my blood and blog!
