The future in commercial aviation is geared, it seems:
Of course P&W and it's partners in the PWW1000G engine thought so when they started to develop their engines for the Mitsubishi MRJ, the Bombardier CSeries, the A320neo and the Irkut MS-21 and the Embraer E2-Jets.
But then, about three years ago, RR started developing their own engine with a geared architecture, calling their product (to be) the "Ultra Fan".
No I read in an article from Aviation Week that also Safran is working on a geared fan engine, under the umbrella of the european Clean Sky initiative, the equivalent to NASA's CLEEN program.
A cross section of the engine concept can be seen on page 17 of this presentation.
My guess is, all engine concepts that CFM, RR and P&W will eventually offer Boeing and Airbus for a replacement of today's A320 and B737 will have a gear between the LPT and the Fan!
