Oerlikon Balzers signed a ten-year contract with MTU Aero Engines to apply MTU's owned erosion-resistant coating ERCoatnt on aerofoil components of next generation GTF aero engines used in the Airbus A320neo aircraft. The coating will help to further improve the efficiency of this engine. MTU Aero Engines is partnering with Pratt & Whitney on this engine. With this long-term agreement, Oerlikon Balzers takes another major step forward in supplying advanced surface technologies and coatings for the aerospace industry. MTU Aero Engines, will profit from the industrialisation, know-how and expertise of a leading supplier of thin-film physical vapour deposition (PVD) and its equipment portfolio by enabling the delivery of consistent and repeatable product quality in a short period of time. This long term partnership between MTU Aero Engines and Oerlikon Balzers signals the intent to work closer together on future surface solutions. The collaboration between the two companies will leverage their respective competences and further contribute to improving the efficiency of the PW1100G-JM aero engines by providing erosion-resistant coatings for MTU's high-pressure compressor aerofoils. Oerlikon Balzers' INNOVENTA giga with arc evaporation technology will ensure high quality coatings of MTU's components. It is the large of the high-tech INNOVENTA coating systems and is an ideal platform for coating large components allowing accommodation of workpieces higher than 1.7 m with a substrate diameter of up to 0.7 m and a loading capacity of up to 3 000 kg.