The face of Engine Alliance

by BARRY GRINDROD  

July 1st 2012

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A woman who did not step aboard an aircraft until she was 17 years of age and has no engineering background is today president of one of the world’s major commercial aircraft engine makers. Read More »

'Customers in Asia are very demanding. They are technically astute and deliberate in their evaluations'

Mary Ellen Jones President Engine Alliance

Mary Ellen Jones is the dynamic, stylish president of the Engine Alliance (EA). She spends almost a third of her time “on the road” drumming up business for the GP7200 engine that has the lion’s share of the A380 market. A great deal of that time is in Asia.

Jones had degrees in management and business in her pocket when she joined Pratt & Whitney (P&W) in Washington. Her baptism was in government relations and then work on the company’s military programmes. It was, said Jones, “a quick study with good mentors”.

From there the only way was up. Today, she is head of a company that has a 56% market share on the A380 with its GP7200 engine. That accounts for 150 engines in service on 34 airplanes – 21 Emirates Airline A380s, eight Air France and five Korean Air A380s – with 600 engines on the order book. Other customers yet to enter service with the A380 are Gulf carriers Etihad Airways and Qatar Airlines and French airline, Air Austral.

The engine manufacturer would have had a greater share had Airbus not shelved plans for an A380 freighter. Both Fedex and UPS had placed orders for the A380F with EA engines. EA engines were also on the 10 superjumbos ordered by ILFC, an order later cancelled by the lessor.

Jones became president of EA in December, 2009. She had previously worked with the alliance between 2003 and 2007 as head of sales and marketing.

In the intervening two years Jones was P&W’s vice-president commercial engines and global services marketing organization.

The boss of the East Hartford, Connecticut-based company, also spent three years in Toulouse directing Pratt & Whitney’s operations at the Airbus headquarters.

The EA chief is keen to add more customers to its A380 portfolio. To this end, she is travelling more than 100 days a year.

Orient Aviation met her on a sales trip to Hong Kong. Only hours earlier she had arrived in the city from the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) annual meeting and world transport summit, in Beijing.

Jones loves to travel whether on duty or not. “The IATA director general, Tony Tyler, spoke in Beijing about aviation being a force for good. Aviation travel opens you up. I didn’t make my first flight until I was 17 but my son, who is now 15, first flew when he was three months old and has now been to 23 countries. Today, he has a good outlook on the world,” she said.

Jones has made many trips to Asia in recent years. She knows the importance of the region and that every order won has to be earned the hard way.

“This is where the growth is, much more so than other regions,” she said. “Customers in Asia are very demanding. They are technically astute and deliberate in their evaluations.”

And when it comes to their evaluations it’s all about fuel efficiency, emissions and reliability. In this very eco-conscious world there is great pressure on airlines and, in particular, engine manufacturers to save fuel and reduce emissions.

“One thing that is increasingly important in the industry is the combination of fuel efficiency and the environment, fuel burn and emissions,” said Jones.

She made the point that since the dawn of the jet age fuel efficiency had increased by 70%. “One of our technical leaders has said we have reached only 50% of theoretical limits of fuel efficiency. There is a lot more to come,” she said.

As IATA aims for a 2020 carbon neutral goal for the industry, Jones said EA “did not need a tap on the shoulder” about the need to develop more fuel efficient, cleaner engines. “We are already doing it. It is ongoing.”

She pointed out that in recent months Airbus had revised its performance handbook, known as the Orange Book, for the third time since 2007 to indicate that GP7200-powered A380 aircraft had been recording fuel consumption lower than previously indicated.

The benefits were continuous, said Jones, like taking out 200 pounds per engine in the last couple of years.

The third re-adjustment by Airbus reflected an additional improvement in engine efficiency of 0.5%. “This is close to 2% better than [its rival] the Trent 900,” said Jones.

In real terms this meant a long-haul aircraft could save $1 million a year and 3,000 tonnes of CO2, said the EA boss.

The GP7200 is approaching the one million hour milestone and has a departure reliability of 99.9%.

If Airbus expands its A380 family, Jones wants to be a part of it.

She also doesn’t rule out an EA engine for the A350. “Airbus does reach out to us from time to time to consider the A350. It is a matter of making the right technical and business case. We are certainly interested in this,” she said.

On the subject of biofuels Jones said the first 50-50 biofuel blend was only certificated last year. She estimated it could be 10 years before they were introduced.

It’s hard to imagine how she spares the time, but the jet-setting Jones also has another string to her bow – she is chairperson of the Connecticut Airport Authority board of directors, which takes about 25% of her time.

But Jones still makes time for the family. During her time in Toulouse her husband and son were with her. Back in the U.S., playing golf and hiking are favourite family pursuits.