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Possible suspension of licenses for jet engines may affect Aeroflot, Transaero fleets

MOSCOW, February 03, (ITAR-TASS/. A possible decision of the International Aviation committee to suspend certificates for jet engines of the CE90-115B and PW 4090 types may affect the fleets of Russia’s two major airlines.

Specifically, it may ground eight Boeing 777 jets of Russia’s national flag carrier Aeroflot and three jets of Transaero airline.

Various modifications of Boeings 777 are fitted out with GE90-115B engines manufactured by General Electric and Pratt & Whitney 4090 engines.

At this moment, Aeroflot has five airliners with GE90-115B’s and the company Orenair, its subsidiary, has three airliners equipped with PW 4090’s.

Aeroflot’s press service declined to provide an on-the-spot comment for the situation.

With the fourteen Boeings 777 in the fleet, Transaero it the biggest operator of these jets in Russia. A total of eight jets of that number have Rolls-Royce’s Trent engines, which the CIS Interstate Aviation Committee issued certificates for in 2010.

“The PW 4090 engines specified by the Interstate Aviation Committee are installed on three B 777’s,” Transaero deputy director general Dmitry Stolyarov told Itar-Tass. He did not specify the type of engines installed on the rest of its B 777’s.

One more Russian carrier, Nordwind Airlines, has two B 777’s fitted out with the GE-90-90B engines but the certificate the Interstate Aviation Committee issued back in 1998 covered all the engines of the GE-90 family.

“The latter engines are installed on the vast majority of Boeing 777 jets operated across the world,” said Andrei Fomin, the editor-in-chief of the Vzlyot /Takeoff/ magazine. “They are certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency. Our committee certified them in the 1990’s.”

The Interstate Aviation Committee said in a statement earlier in the day it was considering a rationality of suspension of the certificate in connection with the accidents that involved the GE90-115B and PW 4090 engines installed on the jets operated by Russian airlines.

Boeing press office refrained from comments on the statement.