A Pratt & Whitney PW1000G turbofan engine sits on the wing of an Airbus A320neo aircraft during a delivery ceremony outside the Airbus Group SE factory in Hamburg, Germany, on Friday, Feb. 12, 2016.
Bloomberg | Krisztian Bocsi
Shares of RTX tumbled 13% Tuesday after the aerospace giant said a producing problem with a few of its popular engines would require “accelerated” inspections on about 200 airplane engines.
The issue stems from powdered metal used to make some engine parts, RTX, the parent of airplane engine maker Pratt & Whitney, said during a quarterly earnings call. Engines currently in production are usually not affected, the corporate said.
RTX, previously often called Raytheon Technologies, trimmed its cash-flow outlook for the 12 months by $500 million to $4.3 billion as a consequence of the issue.
“It will be expensive,” RTX CEO Greg Hayes said in the course of the company’s earnings call. “We will make the airlines whole consequently of the disruption we will cause them.”
The issue is the newest challenge for airlines on top of late aircraft from manufacturers, as carriers seek to reap the rewards of a travel boom with limited numbers of accessible planes.
Pratt & Whitney said that it also expects about 1,000 more engines may have to be faraway from airline fleets over the following nine to 12 months. Nevertheless, the corporate said it’ll proceed to deliver recent aircraft and parts.
The problem will impacting some A320neos, a narrow-body plane and one in every of the world’s hottest aircraft. It competes with the Boeing 737 Max.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it’s aware of the difficulty and is involved with Pratt & Whitney in addition to airlines affected by the issue
“The agency will make sure that the suitable steps are taken,” the FAA said.
Delta Air Lines, a significant Airbus customer, said it’s looking into the difficulty. Airbus didn’t immediately comment. A JetBlue Airways spokeswoman said the carrier is “working with Pratt to evaluate the impact to our fleet.”
Meanwhile, shares of General Electric, a rival engine maker, were up greater than 6% on Tuesday after the conglomerate raised its revenue and money flow forecast for the 12 months, partially due to strong demand for jet engines.
