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GE Aviation Signed
Deals Valued At $12 Billion In Engines And Services By Daniel Baxter |
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November 16, 2011 - GE Aviation has signed new engine
orders and service agreements valued at $11.9 billion at
the Dubai Air Show. The company also announced that it
would design and build a $120 million engine overhaul
facility for Emirates airline in Dubai.
The orders include a $6 billion engine and service
contract to power Emirates? 50 new Boeing 777-300ER
aircraft with the GE90-115B engines. The company also
signed a $1 billion agreement with Cargolux to power its
new fleet of Boeing 747-8 freighters with GE?s latest
engine technology, the GEnx-B2 engine.
CFM International, which is a 50/50 joint venture
between GE and France?s Snecma, announced that it would
sell Republic Airways of Indianapolis, Indiana, advanced
LEAP-1A engines to power the airline?s 20 Airbus 319neo
and 60 Airbus 320neo aircraft. CFM will also supply
Lufthansa with engines valued at $60 million.
Speed, power and efficiency are some of the key factors
that give airlines their competitive edge and determine
which engine they buy. The GE90, GEnx, and LEAP are all
part of GE?s Ecomagination portfolio. |
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For
example, the GE90-115B is the largest and most powerful
commercial aviation engine ever built. But it?s also been
designed to be more fuel-efficient than its competition.
The GE90
was launched in 1990 by GE Aviation associated with Snecma
(France), IHI (Japan) and Avio (Italy). Developed from the 1970s
NASA Energy Efficient Engine, the 10-stage high pressure
compressor develops a pressure ratio of 23:1 (an industry
record) and is driven by a 2-stage, air-cooled, HP turbine. A
3-stage intermediate pressure compressor, situated directly
behind the fan, supercharges the core. The fan/IPC is driven by
a 6-stage low pressure turbine.
The higher
thrust variants, GE90-110B1 and -115B, have a different
architecture from the earlier marks of GE90, with one stage
removed from the HP compressor (probably from the rear, to
increase core size), with an extra stage added to the IP
compressor to maintain/increase overall pressure ratio to
achieve a net increase in core flow. General Electric did a
similar re-staging exercise when they upgraded the CF6 from the
-6 to the higher thrust -50. However, this thrust growth route
is expensive, since all the downstream components (e.g.
turbines) have to be larger (in flow capacity).
So it is hardly surprising that GE sought (and received) sole engine supplier status with the -115B on the Boeing 777-300ER. The fan is an advanced, larger diameter unit made from composite materials and is the first production engine to feature swept rotor blades. Although the larger fan in itself would produce a higher static thrust, an increase in core size and, thereby core power, was required to improve the net thrust at normal flight speeds. |