FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW -- After nine months and close to 100 engines in service, GE Aviation's GEnx engines are performing extremely well in the field, powering Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, 747-8 Freighter and 747-8 Intercontinental aircraft.
"The GEnx engine has accumulated more than 130,000 flight hours and more than 28,000 cycles since entering service in October," said Chuck Nugent, general manager of the GEnx program at GE Aviation. "Our customers are telling us great things about the engines' reliability, fuel efficiency and noise, and we are excited to deliver more engines this year to customers around the world."
To ensure a smooth entry into service, GE Aviation field service engineers (FSEs) are meeting initial GEnx-powered flights. To date, 60 FSEs have met more than 2,100 flights at 48 airports in 27 countries.
The GEnx engine is the fastest-selling engine in GE Aviation history with close to 1,300 engines on order. Production of the GEnx engines is growing. GE Aviation plans to produce more than 140 GEnx engines this year, 200 engines next year, rising to a capability of 300 engines annually in the next few years. To achieve this production rate, GE Aviation has invested in its supply chain, opening new facilities in Batesville, Mississippi; Greenville, South Carolina; and Regensburg, Germany; and expanding facilities/investing in new equipment in Rutland, Vermont; Peebles, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; and Durham, North Carolina.
As part of an aggressive maturation program, GE Aviation will continue to test the GEnx engine and accumulate an additional 25,000 cycles by 2016, which is equal to about 20 years of actual service. GE Aviation will conduct five shop visits on the maturation engine before the first customer's engine will come in for its first shop visit. GE Aviation is also working with several customers as part of our leading indicator program that allows the company to gather real world engine results from the field.
Based on proven GE90 architecture, the GEnx engine combines the latest technology like the low-emission twin-annular combustor with advanced material like the durable, light-weight composite fan case and fan blades. Compared to GE's CF6 engine, the GEnx engine offers up to 15 percent better fuel efficiency, which translates to 15 percent less CO2, NOx gases emissions as much as 55 percent below and the emission of other regulated gases as much as 90 percent below today's regulatory limits, and 30 percent lower noise levels.
GEnx revenue-sharing participants are IHI Corporation of Japan, Avio SpA. of Italy, Volvo Aero of Sweden, MTU of Germany, TechSpace Aero of Belgium, Snecma (SAFRAN Group) of France and Samsung Techwin of Korea.
The GEnx is part of GE's "ecomagination" product portfolio - GE's business strategy to develop new, cost-effective technologies that enhance customers' environmental and operating performance.
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.