BANGKOK, THAILAND --- March 15, 2011--- GE Aviation and Thai Airways International (THAI) are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the first delivery of GE's CF6-80C2 engines that powered the airline's Airbus 300-600 aircraft. This CF6-80C2-powered aircraft was delivered to THAI in October 1985, and was the first airline to operate this engine, which is GE's best-selling wide-body engine and set a GE record for the longest running commercial engine production line.
"GE Aviation is proud of the strong history with Thai Airways International, and we are celebrating the success that THAI has experienced since this first CF6-80C2 engine delivery," said Tom Wygle, Vice President, Asia-Pacific, GE Aviation.
"THAI is pleased to celebrate 25 years of successful operation of GE's CF6-80C2 engine," said Captain Montree Jumrieng, Executive Vice President, Technical Department, Thai Airways International. "The engine has set a standard for reliability and durability that has proven to be very valuable to our airline and our customers."
Thai Airways International operates CF6-80C2 engines on eighteen Boeing 747-400 aircraft. Beyond CF6-powered aircraft, THAI also flies GE90 engines on three Boeing 777-300ER and CFM56-3 engines on its six Boeing 737-400.
With more than 3,800 engines delivered, the CF6-80C2 engine is certified to power 12 wide-body applications and has accumulated more than 175 million flight hours and 41 million cycles, which is equivalent to 400,000 trips to the moon. The engine's time on wing has continued to grow since 1990, and in 2008, the engine was upgraded with Tech CF6 technologies in the high pressure turbine to improve maintenance cost and performance retention. GE expects the CF6-80C2 engine to continue powering aircraft for another 20 to 25 years with current deliveries targeted through 2020.
Succeeding the highly successful CF6 engine is GE's new GEnx engine, which will power the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 747-8 aircraft. Based on the proven GE90 architecture, the GEnx will incorporate advanced designs and materials in the compressor, combustor and turbine to move a generation beyond the GE90 engine technology and provide customers with a 15 percent improvement in fuel efficiency compared to the CF6. This fuel efficiency improvement translates into a 15 percent reduction in CO2 emissions. The GEnx's innovative twin-annular pre-swirl (TAPS) combustor will dramatically reduce NOx emission as much as 60 percent below today's regulatory limits and other regulated gases as much as 90 percent. Like the GE90, the GEnx engine will have composite front fan blades along with the first composite front fan case that will reduce the engine's weight by close to 400 lbs. More than 1,300 GEnx engine have been sold to close to 48 customers around the world.
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. ecomagination's commitment is to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 1 percent and reduce energy intensity 30 percent by 2012.
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. For more information, visit us at www.ge.com/aviation. Follow GE Aviation on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GEAviation and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/GEAviation.
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*CFM56 engines are a product of CFM International, a 50.50 joint venture between GE and Snecma (Safran Group).
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