ORLANDO, FLORIDA - GE Honda Aero Engines LLC is validating design and component enhancements to its latest-generation HF118 jet engine in anticipation of running a full engine incorporating these designs by early 2007. 

GE Honda Aero Engines LLC is a 50/50 joint venture company formed a year ago to manufacture and market the HF118 family of commercial turbofan engines, ranging in thrust from 1,000 to 3,500 pounds, for light business aircraft. 

Following component tests in early 2005 at Honda and GE, the joint company conducted a successful core engine test this summer at Honda's Japan facilities. The core engine tests met or exceeded all mechanical design, performance, and durability expectations. For the remainder of 2005, additional compressor and combustor rig testing will be conducted in Japan. Engineering teams at Honda and GE have collaborated for almost a year on enhancements that include: 

Improvement in specific fuel consumption of 5 percent through engine component efficiencies. Honda’s enhancements to its high-pressure centrifugal compressor have increased airflow and overall pressure ratio. 
- A 15 percent reduction in overall engine weight. By incorporating lighter, higher-temperature materials and engine-cycle design enhancements, GE Honda Aero Engines LLC has been able to efficiently reduce the engine core size. 
- Improvements to the high-pressure turbine include blades with GE's advanced, single-crystal material, using 3-dimensional aerodynamic (3-D aero) design technology. The HF118 is being designed to operate in service for an industry-leading 5,000 hours before the first major overhaul with no interim hot-section inspection. 
- An enhanced fan with high-flow, wide-chord, swept aerodynamic technology proven on the GE90-115B, the world's most powerful engine, and on the new GEnx engine currently under development. 

"GE and Honda technical teams are working together very effectively," said Gary Leonard, president of GE Honda Aero Engines LLC. "In a short period of time, the joint company has moved quickly to incorporate and validate component and architectural design enhancements to an engine already benefiting from almost 20 years of Honda innovation." 

The emergence of small, less expensive business jets creates considerable opportunity for a highly reliable and durable jet engine to power them. Honda and GE envision annual sales of at least 200 of these aircraft, flown by owner-operators and fractional owners, as well as "air-taxi" operations serving small airports that are not serviced by major airlines. 

GE Honda Aero Engines LLC has benefited from a high level of market interest in the HF118 engine and is in discussions with several companies proposing new light business aircraft. 

GE Honda Aero Engines LLC teams GE - Aviation, a world leader in the manufacture of jet engines, with Honda Aero, Inc, a wholly owned Honda Motor Co., Ltd. subsidiary, established to manage Honda's aviation engine business. 

Honda (NYSE: HMC) is a leading manufacturer of automobiles and power products and the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world. Honda has more than 120 manufacturing facilities in 30 countries worldwide, which produce a wide range of products, including motorcycles, ATVs, generators, marine engines, lawn and garden equipment and automobiles. 

General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) is a diversified technology and services company whose products range from aircraft engines and power generation equipment to financial services, medical imaging, television programming and plastics. GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs more than 315,000 people worldwide.