China Airlines Co (華航), the nation's largest carrier, said yesterday that it has yet to decide on which company it will source engines for its newly-ordered aircraft, refuting a local newspaper report that General Electric Co (GE) and United Technologies Corp's Pratt & Whitney unit have won the orders.
A Chinese-language newspaper said yesterday that GE and Pratt & Whitney beat Rolls-Royce Group Plc of UK to supply China Airlines with engines for the 12 Airbus SAS A330-300s and six Boeing 747-700s passenger planes, worth about US$600 million.
The report said that China Airlines has made the decision in exchange for Washington permission for stop-overs in the US by Vice President Annette Lu (
A China Airlines official said the report was just speculation.
"We are still working on the engine deal. Nothing has been finalized," said spokesman Roger Han (
The report, however, raised questions about GE's new engines, saying that the US company has allegedly provided China Airlines with price quotes not for the CF6-80E1A3 engine, as required in the bidding regulations, but for CF6-80E1A4, an engine which has not been certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
GE rebutted the accusation, saying that it had in fact offered quotes on three jet engines -- CF6-80E1A2, A3 and A4 -- and that all of them were accepted by China Airlines, the Central News Agency reported yesterday.
Amid safety concerns, GE said it actually won certification for its CF6-80E1A2, A3 and A4 engines from the FAA in July 1997 and has used the engines on Airbus A330-200 passenger jets for many years, the report said.
GE admitted that its CF6-80E1A4 engine has not been certified for Airbus A330-300 jets. But the company claimed that it is expected to win certification for the engine from the FAA by May next year, the report said.
According to GE, the Australia-based Qantas had ordered 13 A330 jets equipped with its CF6-80E1A3 and A4 engines, while Qatar Airlines also purchased A4 jet engines from the company this year. Therefore China Airlines will not be the first carrier in the world that adopts or purchases the A4 engine, GE said.
GE said it expects the engine deal with China Airlines will be finalized within a couple of days.
Han declined to comment.
As repair and maintenance for jet engines is very profitable, vendors from the US and UK have been competing fiercely for the deal. Both Washington and London have tried to use political influence in the engine deal, some analysts said.
Previous media reports had said Rolls Royce could win the order and that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had sent a letter to President Chen to lobby for the deal.
Rolls Royce had reportedly proposed setting up a maintenance center at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport and offered a more attractive discount to China Airlines than General Electric and Pratt & Whitney.
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