The business of propelling large passenger jets is at maximum thrust. Boeing and Airbus delivered a record 1,300 planes between them last year. They also racked up 2,800 new orders to bring their combined backlog to well over 10,000. The engines account for up to a third of the value of a new jet. So some pundits reckon engine-makers' revenues could total $1 tril- lion over the next 20 years. Pratt & Whitney used to tower over the market for such engines but these days it is third-placed in a business dominated by ge, another American company, and Rolls-Royce, of Britain. Pratt is now hoping to claw its way back to the top with its new generation of jet engine, the "geared turbo-fan". This has a gearbox that lets the fan at the front of the engine turn at a different speed to the compressors inside it. By allowing each to run at optimal speeds it makes the engine more efficient.
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