FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW -- After shipping 7,000 CF6 engines in the last 40 years, GE Aviation predicts the CF6 production line will continue beyond 2024.

"The CF6 engine family is as strong as it has ever been," said Chuck Williams, general manager of the CF6 engine program at GE Aviation. "Last year, the CF6 engine amassed an impressive 130 firm engine orders. The order book will enable us to continue the CF6 production line well beyond 2024."

The CF6 engine celebrated 40 years of service last year, with the production line for the CF6-80C2 engine in place for 27 years. More than 4,000 CF6 engines are in service, which is about 67 percent of all CF6 engines ever produced. More than 1600 CF6-powered aircraft are still in service, which is just over two thirds of all the CF6 powered aircraft ever produced. The engine family has accumulated more than 375 million hours and more than 100 million cycles.

The CF6-80C2 engine is GE's best-selling widebody engine and has accumulated more than 188 million flight hours and 43 million cycles, which is equivalent to 432,000 trips to the moon.

Beside passenger aircraft, the CF6 engine is a leading engine on freighters, with about 40 percent of its engines used by cargo operators. The engine is also popular on military aircraft, such as the re-engining efforts on the Lockheed Martin C-5M Super Galaxy transport, 767 Global Tanker/Transport, 767 AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft and Japan's C-X Transport.

GE Aviation, an operating unit of GE (NYSE: GE), is a world-leading provider of jet and turboprop engines, components and integrated systems for commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft. GE Aviation has a global service network to support these offerings.