SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- Every 10 seconds, a GE CF34-powered aircraft flies into the air somewhere around the world.

With this departure schedule, the 4,500 CF34 engines in service travel the equivalent of 170 times around the Earth each day and carry 40,000 passengers to their destinations. With a dispatch reliability rate of 99.98 percent and more than 50 million flight-hours, the CF34 engine epitomizes the reliability and durability necessary for high-cycle operation. 

"The CF34 engine has been a stalwart in the regional jet industry with an average of 400 engines delivered each year since 2003," said Chuck Nugent, general manager of the CF34 program at GE Aviation. "The average CF34 engine has close to 12,000 flight-hours and almost 60 percent of the fleet has not had its first shop visit." 

The CF34 engine has benefited from GE's extensive research and development investments. Since the first CF34-3B1 engine entered service in 1995, GE has enhanced the engine's design and improved fuel consumption. The latest engine model, the CF34-10E, has 9 percent lower fuel consumption than the original -3B1 model. 

For the next-generation CF34 engine, GE plans to further reduce fuel consumption by 23 percent compared with the CF34-3B1 engine. The technology program will maintain CF34's tradition of world-class reliability for high cycle use while offering up to 15 percent lower operating costs. The engine will incorporate GE's eCore technologies, including 3-D aero design airfoils, advanced materials, and the next-generation TAPS combustor for reduced emissions. Core testing begins next month. The engine could enter service as early as 2015. 

Highlights of GE's CF34 engine family: 

CF34-10E: With four years of service and more than 520 engines in operation with 26 customers, the CF34-10E engine has been performing well in the field, accumulating more than 1.9 million flight-hours and 1.3 million cycles. The engine has the highest thrust rating for the CF34 family with 20,000 pounds of thrust and includes many advanced technologies, including a single-stage high-pressure turbine, advanced wide chord fan blades, advanced 3-D aero compressor and turbine airfoils, and a chevron exhaust nozzle. The CF34-10E engine powers the EMBRAER 190/195 as well as the new Embraer Lineage 1000 business jet that entered service earlier this month. 

CF34-10A: The CF34-10A engine will power the new 70- to 90-passenger ARJ21 regional jet from Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC). Engine certification is on track, and flight tests on the ARJ21 continue. Entry into service is scheduled for late 2010. COMAC has taken orders for more than 200 ARJ21 regional jet aircraft and sees a potential for up to 850 aircraft over the next 20 years. This represents a potential of more than $4 billion in CF34 revenue for GE Aviation. GE and COMAC have collaborated closely on the aircraft's detailed design and the aircraft/engine integration. For the past two years, GE has been recognized as COMAC's supplier of the year. 

CF34-8: Since entering service in 2001, the CF34-8 engine has undergone many enhancements to lower part count, further improve durability and lower maintenance costs. More than 1,600 CF34-8 engines are in service on Bombardier's CRJ700 (CF34-8C1) and CRJ900 (CF34-8C5) and EMBRAER's 170/175 (CF34-8E5) aircraft. The engines have accumulated more than 12 million flight-hours and nine million cycles. The CF34-8C1 has incorporated technology from the CF34-8C5 version to create a common engine for the CRJ700 and CRJ900. To date, about 70 percent of the fleet has received the upgrade with the entire fleet to be completed by 2011. The upgrade provides either up to 5 percent thrust increase or up to 15 percent lower maintenance costs. 

The newest CF34-8 variant, the CF34-8C5A2 is scheduled to enter service on the CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft in early 2010. The engine has new aerodynamic first-stage high-pressure turbine nozzles, 30 percent fewer vanes, improved geometry, cooling and coating on the high-pressure turbine airfoils and up to 10 percent lower maintenance costs. 

CF34-3: In service since 1992, the CF34-3A1 and -3B1 engines power more than 1,000 Bombardier CRJ100/200 aircraft. An upgrade package will convert the CF34-3A1 to a CF34-3B1 to improve fuel burn and climb thrust capability.