Geoff Thomas
"We're having one great week in Paris," says Jim McNerney, GE Aircraft Engines' president and CEO.
Speaking at Le Bourget yesterday, McNerney was in bullish mood about the company's present position and future potential. "We're now an $11-billion outfit which is split 50:50 between engines and service," he says. "We've announced $1 billion worth of sales in Paris and we can now say that in the decade between 1995 and 2005, our installed engine base figure will double."
Embraer's selection of the CF34-8E and -10E turbofan engines for the ERJ family of regional jets means that GE is now on all three of the competing makers' airframes, as the engine was already specified for Fairchild and Bombardier regional jets.
Segment
"This means," he says, "that we have 70% of the market in this fastest-growing segment of the business and this will climb to around 90% in a few years' time."
GE's equal partnership with French engine maker Snecma has also provided a cause for celebration during the week as CFM delivered it's 10,000th CFM56.
In the spirit of the half-and-half partnership between GE and Snecma, CFM decided that it would be invidious to deliver the engine to either Airbus or Boeing, the two major airframe makers to specify it - so they delivered the milestone engine to both, although McNerney says this didn't seem to matter too much as the champagne was flowing to such an extent that it seemed the natural thing to do.
McNerney was speaking hours before the announcement of yet another major order, this time from International Lease Finance, worth $1-billion. This is for CFM56-7s to power the largest-ever order - 50 and a further 50 'subject to comfirmation' - for the Boeing's Next Generation 737 family aircraft, a deal which brings GE's order book for deals confirmed at Le Bourget up to $1.5 million.
Other highlights of GE's week so far include:
Swiss airline Crossair's launch order for 60 ERJ-170s and ERJ-190s , with 100 options;
Flight's Options order for 25 CF34-8D3-powered Fairchild Envoy 7 business jets;
Horizon Air's options for 25 CRJ-700s;
Midway's purchase of 15 CFM56-7-powered Boeing 737-700s (with 10 options);
Jet Airways' decision to buy 10 CFM56-7-powered Boeing 737-800s;
CIT's purchase of another 10 CFM56-7-powered Next Generation 737s.
Finally, GE Engine Services and LOT Polish Airlines have signed a transaction agreement to form an engine maintenance venture while GE and South Korea's Asiana Airlines are evaluating the formation of the first on-wing support facility in northern Asia, to be based at the airline's Kimpo Airport facility in Seoul.
Source: Flight Daily News
