EVENDALE, OHIO -- Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings has announced the purchase of 12 firm Boeing 747-8 freighter aircraft powered by GEnx engines.
Delivery of the aircraft will begin in 2010. The engine deal is valued at more than $700 million. With this order, a total of 40 firm Boeing 747-8 freighters have been sold with the engine deals valued at more than $2 billion.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAWW) is the parent company of Atlas Air, Inc. (Atlas) and Polar Air Cargo, Inc. (Polar), which together operate the world’s largest fleet of Boeing 747 freighter aircraft. Atlas and Polar offer scheduled air cargo service, cargo charters, military charters, and ACMI aircraft leasing in which customers receive a dedicated aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance on a long-term lease basis.
Detailed design of the GEnx engine for the Boeing 747-8 aircraft is underway. The engine contains the same technological advances of the GEnx engine for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, but it is resized to fit the 747-8 aircraft. The front fan of the GEnx engine on the 747-8 aircraft will be 105" in diameter compared with 111" for the 787 application. The engine will be rated at 66,500 pounds of thrust for the 747-8 aircraft.
Certification testing on the GEnx for the 747-8 aircraft will begin next year. Flight-testing aboard the new 747-8 is scheduled for late 2008.
The GEnx is based on the highly successful GE90 architecture and will succeed GE's CF6 engine family, which is the most reliable and best-selling engine on wide-body aircraft. The engine will provide significantly better specific fuel consumption and payload performance than GE's CF6 engines.
The GEnx is the world's only jet engine with both a front fan case and fan blades made of composites, which provide for greater engine durability, weight reduction and lower operating costs. The fan blades will utilize GE90 composite technology that has performed well, with no routine on-wing maintenance required and no in-service issue for more than a decade. The GEnx will operate with 18 fan blades (50 percent fewer than the CF6) at noise levels lower than any large GE commercial engine. The GEnx also features a new combustor for efficient fuel mixing before ignition, resulting in significantly lower oxides of nitrogen (Nox) levels.
The GEnx is part of GE's "ecomagination" product portfolio--GE's commitment to develop new, cost-effective technologies that enhance customers' environmental and operating performance.
GE - Aviation, an operating unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), is one of the world's leading manufacturers of jet engines for civil and military aircraft. GE also is a world-leading provider of maintenance and support services for jet engines.