EVENDALE, Ohio -- Azerbaijan Airlines has selected the GEnx engine to power its three Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.
Azerbaijan Airlines is the first airline in the republics of the former Soviet Union to order the Boeing 787 aircraft and the GEnx engine. The engine order is valued at more than $110 million (USD).
"We are very excited that Azerbaijan Airlines has selected the GEnx engine to power its Boeing 787 fleet," says Muhammad Al-Lamadani, regional sales manager for GE Aviation. "These new aircraft and engines will enable the airline to enter the long-haul segment and expand its destinations to the East, Southeast Asia and North America."
The GEnx will power the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 747-8 Intercontinental and Freighter aircraft.
Based on the highly successful GE90 architecture, the GEnx engine will succeed GE's CF6 engine family, which is the most reliable and best-selling engine on wide-body aircraft. It provides significantly better specific fuel consumption and payload performance than GE's CF6 engines.
The GEnx engine 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 extremely well, with no routine on-wing maintenance required and no in-service issues for more than a decade.
The GEnx began flight-testing on GE's 747 flying testbed in February 2007 and has been undergoing ground tests since March 2006. Engine certification is scheduled for September 2007.
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.