10 Million Reasons to Celebrate the HTF7000 Engine Family

Now’s the time to give a shout-out to Honeywell’s HTF7000 family of turbofan engines. This efficient and reliable workhorse achieved two major milestones in January when it marked 20 years of service and surpassed 10 million flight hours.

As the powerplant of choice in the super-midsize class, HTF7000 engine models accumulate nearly 2,000 flight hours every day.

The Futureshapers behind this iconic engine will pause to celebrate their historic accomplishment in the next few weeks. But until then our team in Phoenix will keep on building engines at the rate of about eight per week.

Honeywell Aims to Deliver 400-Plus HTF Engines This Year

“We’re expecting to build more than 400 HTF7000 series engines in 2024, and as many as 4,500 over the next decade or so as the demand for super-midsize jets continues to grow,” said Dave Marinick, President of Engines & Power Systems at Honeywell.

“In all, we anticipate a production run of close to 8,000 engines over the life of the program. Those numbers are a tribute to the thousands of Honeywell employees – past, present and future – who contributed to this landmark program. We can all feel enormous pride in reaching this significant 10-million-hour milestone,” Marinick added.

HTF7000 at a Glance

• More than 10 million flight hours.
• 6,500-7,500 pounds of take-off thrust.
• 5 separately certified engine models.
• Better than 99.99% dispatch reliability.
• 3,200+ engines in service and counting
• Certified to fly on sustainable aviation fuel blends.

Over 20 Years of Reliable Operations

The first HTF7000 engine entered service in 2004 on the Bombardier Challenger 300, which redefined the super-midsize category and set higher expectations for aircraft uptime, reliability, fuel efficiency and cost of ownership,” said Carl Kotlarz, Senior Product Director of Propulsion Engines.

“There are now more than 3,200 HTF7000-series engines in service, powering all the best-selling super-midsize jets, including the Challenger 3500, Gulfstream G280, Cessna Citation Longitude and two models of Embraer Praetor aircraft,” Kotlarz added.

In 1998, Jeff Aitchison joined the HTF7000 development team as a structural manager. Today he is the senior chief engineer on the program.

“It’s been amazing to be involved in both the front-end development and in-service phases of this program,” Aitchison said. “We set out to develop an engine that had low maintenance costs and high reliability, and the HTF7000 engine family has lived up to our highest expectations over the last two decades.”

The HTF7000 turbofan models are known for reliability, Kotlarz said."Year after year, HTF7000-series engines reach new heights in terms of dispatch reliability, also known as mission readiness. We’re among the best in the industry in that category, which is very important to flight departments and passengers. Nobody wants to experience a delay or cancellation due to maintenance issues.”

Aitchison said a variety of factors make the HTF7000 family of engines ultra-reliable. “It was the first engine family we designed for on-condition maintenance. We also used techniques like accelerated life testing to make components more reliable, and pioneered the use of data analytics to extend maintenance intervals. The engines are easy to maintain on the wing because most line-replaceable units can be swapped out in 20 minutes or less with everyday tools.”

Flying High Into the Future

Twenty years after its introduction, the HTF7000 engine family is still highly relevant. Demand for super-midsize jets with coast-to-coast range is expected to keep aircraft and engine manufacturers humming for at least the next decade.

At the same time, Marinick says Honeywell is looking to the future with plans on the drawing board for a new generation of turbofan engines, which is expected to enter service early in the next decade.

“Building on the success of our HTF7000 engine family, we’re currently developing a new family of gas turbine engines that will be lighter, quieter and more powerful, with the ability to run on 100% sustainable aviation fuel,” he said.“We’re also pushing innovation with advancements like electric-powered systems and alternative fuel propulsion.”