June 14, 2005 -- LE BOURGET - Korean Air has selected the Engine Alliance GP7200 to power the airline's new fleet of Airbus A380 super jumbo aircraft. Korean Air ordered 23 engines for the five firm A380s on order and 13 engines for the three option aircraft. The value of the firm orders is approximately $300M. If the options are exercised, they would be worth an additional $170 million. This order gives the Engine Alliance a 58 percent order share on the A380s for which engines have been selected; the total 320 engines on firm order have a value of $4.1B.
"We're very pleased with the Engine Alliance's focus on reliability, maturity and cost of ownership," said Yang Ho Cho, Korean Air Chairman and CEO. "We look forward to introducing GP7200-powered A380s into the Korean Air fleet."
"Chairman Cho and his team plan to make Korean Air one of the top ten airlines in the world within the next five years," said Bruce Hughes, president of the Engine Alliance. "The Engine Alliance team and its parent companies, GE and Pratt & Whitney, are proud to be part of making that vision a reality."
The Engine Alliance's GP7200 engine will be certified at an initial thrust rating of 76,500 pounds. Plans call for increasing that certification rating to 81,500 pounds to accommodate A380 growth. The GP7200 has demonstrated the capability of reaching up to 84,000 pounds of thrust.
The GP7200 development program continues on track for engine certification in October 2005, followed by flight-testing aboard the A380. Flight test engines are being built now and will go to Airbus in mid-year. To date the eight development engines in the GP7200 test program have completed more than 4,000 cycles and 1,750 hours of operation. By entry into service the development fleet will have built up more than 15,000 endurance cycles, the equivalent of 105,000 hours of operation. Even though the A380 is a four-engine aircraft, the GP7200 will certify to standards suitable for an ETOPS (Extended Twin Engine Operations) rating.
The GP7200 engine has been selected for 72 of the 125 A380 aircraft ordered with the engines specified. In addition to Korean Air, customers for the GP7200 engine include Air France, Emirates, FedEx and International Lease Finance Corporation.
The GP7200 benefits from the heritage of the highly successful GE90 and PW4000 families. Building on the GE90 core and the PW4000 low-pressure system, the GP7200 is a refined derivative with an infusion of new, proven technologies. The engine features a hollow-titanium, swept wide-chord fan; a five-stage low-pressure compressor; a nine-stage high-pressure compressor and a two-stage high-pressure turbine; a low-emissions single annular combustor that will meet future emissions regulations with substantial margin; and a six-stage low-pressure turbine.
MTU of Germany, Snecma of France and Techspace Aero of Belgium are revenue-sharing participants in the GP7200 engine program.
The Engine Alliance, a 50/50 joint venture between GE Transportation - Aircraft Engines and Pratt & Whitney, was formed in August 1996 to develop, manufacture, sell, and support a family of modern-technology engines for new high-capacity, long-range aircraft.
Rick Kennedy
GE Aviation
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