Why United Airlines Chose Pratt & Whitney PW1000G Engines For Its Airbus A321neos

During last year’s Paris Air Show, many were taken aback by United Airlines’ surprise announcement to power its future A321neo family fleet, an order consisting of 70 A321neo and 50 A321XLR aircraft, with Pratt & Whitney GTF engines – the PW1000G. Given the American manufacturer’s challenges at the time, many were surprised that United didn’t choose to go with the competing CFM Leap-1A for its A321neo fleet. One year and many new issues later, the situation is even worse with the GTF engines.