EVENDALE, OH -- Hainan Airlines has selected GE-Aviation's GEnx engine to power its eight Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The GEnx engine order is valued at more than $200 million. Aircraft delivery will begin in 2008.
Hainan Airlines has also reached an OnPointsm Solutions agreement with GE for the maintenance of its GEnx fleet.
Hainan Airlines, headquartered in the tropical Hainan province, China, is the fourth largest airline group in China and a significant GE customer with a fleet of Boeing 737s and Airbus A319s powered by CFM International (50/50 joint company of GE and Snecma Moteurs) engines. Hainan Airlines will deploy the new 787s for its expanding international routes.
"We are very excited to select the GEnx for our 787 fleet," said Wang Jian, Vice Chairman of Hainan Airlines. "The GEnx engine has advanced, proven technologies that will help us maintain a low cost of ownership for our new aircraft."
"Hainan Airlines and GE have a solid working relationship," said Scott Donnelly, President and CEO of GE-Aviation. "The selection of the GEnx engine for the airlines' new 787 aircraft will help us further enhance our relationship."
The GEnx is the best-selling engine for the Boeing 787. Selected for three new wide-body aircraft under development, the GEnx has orders exceeding 600 engines.
Based on the highly successful GE90 architecture, the 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. Testing began earlier this year on the GEnx engine, with engine certification scheduled for 2007.
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 well, with no routine on-wing maintenance required and no in-service issues 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.
SMOnPoint is a service mark of General Electric Company.