Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Eric Trappier has congratulated Pratt & Whitney Canada on Transport Canada's approval of the latest member of the company's PW800 family of high-efficiency engines, which powers Dassault's new extra-widebody Falcon 6X.

“Pratt & Whitney Canada's PW812D engine is a major step forward in fuel efficiency, maintainability and performance, and will help make the 6X a truly outstanding aircraft,” he says.

The 13,500 lb-thrust PW812D will provide the Falcon 6X with a range of up to 9,450 km at Mach 0.85. It powers all three of the Falcon 6X aircraft currently in flight testing; the test campaign has accumulated over 500 flight test hours and 150 flights to date. Test pilots have praised the smooth handling of the aircraft as it continues to make steady progress toward planned type certification in late 2022. An initial production aircraft with a fully outfitted cabin will soon be added to the programme, which will conduct a global tour to evaluate aircraft and system performance, including operation in remote locations and other challenging environments.

Last month, a Falcon 6X flight test aircraft landed at Paris-Le Bourget airport and refuelled in the field using a SAF blend provided by TotalEnergies. Dassault Aviation will continue to use SAF in the test programme as part of the company's ongoing effort to minimise its CO2 footprint.

P&C says the PW812D engine has shown exceptional performance during more than 4,900 hours of engine testing, including more than 1,150 hours of flight testing and 20,000 hours on the engine core. With the total PW800 family, more than 130,000 hours of testing and field experience have been conducted, including close to over 40,000 hours of flight testing. The PW800 engine is a clean sheet design that uses the most sustainable and high-performance technologies to achieve double digit improvements in fuel burn, emissions and noise as compared to the current generation of engines. It also incorporates the latest generation of technologies from advanced design features to innovative maintenance functionality.

“We are pleased with the announcement by Transport Canada that the PW812D engine has reached this key certification milestone,” says P&WC president Maria Della Posta. “We successfully achieved the engine design and programme schedule milestones by working closely with Dassault since the launch of this great programme.”

The engine is the quietest engine in its class, and requires 40 per cent less scheduled maintenance and 20 per cent fewer inspections than other engines in its class. It is backed by P&WC’s ESP coverage programme for scheduled and unscheduled events.