Austria has last September to replace its aging Hercules transport aircraft with new C-390Ms from the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer. to replace its aging Hercules transport aircraft. What the decision-makers probably didn’t know at the time was that with its new air transporter, the Armed Forces could even make a contribution to achieving the net-zero CO2 emission targets by 2050.
As the trade magazine “Aviation Week” reports, the aircraft turbine manufacturer International Aero Engines (IAE) recently successfully completed a test run with the V2500 engine powering the Embraer C-390M using 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel. According to the manufacturer, the successful test was recently carried out at MTU Maintenance’s Hannover site.
The V2500 powers more than 3,000 aircraft, primarily the Airbus A320/321 family, but also the new military transporter Embraer C-390 Millennium. Since the V2500-A1 went into service on an Adria Airways Airbus A320 in 1989, more than 7,800 units of the engine have been built and, despite its long market presence, several thousand more are likely to be built – the engine is expected to be in use until after 2045. This is also due to the fact that no fewer than 17 established facilities worldwide offer maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for the engine. MTU Maintenance’s German parent company is one of the partners in the IAE manufacturer consortium alongside Pratt & Whitney, Pratt & Whitney Aero Engines International and Japanese Aero Engines Corporation.
According to MTU Maintenance, the MRO site of MTU Aero Engines, the V2500 test was conducted with 100 percent hydroprocessed esters of fatty acids and synthetic paraffinic kerosene fuel (HEFA-SPK), a renewable fuel produced from various used oils and greases. The SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) was supplied by the Finnish oil refinery Neste.
“This test with 100 percent SAF shows that V2500 engines can continue to help make aviation more sustainable for decades to come,” said Kim Kinsley, President at IAE and Vice President of Mature Commercial Engines at Pratt & Whitney. “We anticipate that the majority of our eight IAE shops will be ready to deploy SAF in their operations in the next few years,” Kinsley added.
MTU Maintenance claims to be the first MRO facility in the world to perform a 100 percent SAF test on the V2500 engine. “This test underscores our commitment to increasing the use of SAF throughout our network and across the industry,” says Michael Schreyögg, Chief Program Officer at MTU Aero Engines.
The German company has been working on SAF testing in recent years and has partnered with companies such as US airline JetBlue to test and collect data on the use of SAF for the airline’s V2500 engine fleet.
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