GE and CFM Win $22 Billion in New Deals @ Farnborough Airshow 2022

Civil Aviation

New Delhi: Even though weather wise, England may be experiencing the hottest summer of the current century but for GE Aviation at the Farnborough International Airshow, it was raining orders.

The GE unit that makes aircraft engines, plane components, avionics and other aerospace technology said it and its partner, CFM International, have won orders valued at more than $22 billion at list price.

The orders cut across the unit’s broad portfolio and include engines for wide-body passenger planes, single-aisle aircraft, regional jets, and services.

GE Additive, the company’s 3D-printing arm, is coming home with seven deals from Honda Aircraft R&D, the power management company Eaton, Protolabs and others. GE Aviation also launched software and analytics partnerships with Microsoft and Teradata at the airshow.

Some of the notable deals included a $2.5 billion order for 58 GE90 engines and 20 GEnx engines from the cargo airlines Volga-Dnepr and CargoLogic Holding. The GE90-115B is the world’s most powerful jet engine, according to Guinness World Records, and Volga-Dnepr will use them to power a new fleet of Boeing 777 freighters. CargoLogic’s GEnx-2B engines will power five latest-generation Boeing 747-8 cargo jets. Another global shipping company, DHL, ordered 28 GE90 engines valued at $1 billion.

Aeronautics aficionados at the Aeroshow were witness to a Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Biman Bangladesh Airlines and powered by a pair of GEnx engines during a flyover.

In the narrow-body market, CFM International, a 50-50 joint venture between GE Aviation and Safran Aircraft Engines, closed a deal with Air Lease Corporation to power 34 previously announced Airbus A321neo aircraft with LEAP-1A engines, and finalized an order for 85 LEAP-1B powered Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The engine orders are valued at more than $3.3 billion. The US regional carrier Republic Airways ordered 215 CF34-8E engines from GE Aviation valued at more than $1.4 billion.

GE Additive, GE’s 3D printing business, which had its own pavilion at Farnborough used the show platform to launch the GE Manufacturing Partner Network. The network offers consulting services and helps customers design 3D printed parts and gives them access to printers, materials and expertise, among other things.

GE Aviation has also said that Microsoft Azure would become its cloud platform for data analytics in aviation. Finally, a new partnership with Teradata will give GE Aviation access to its high-performance analytics and data warehousing platform.

In a major boost to their business and image on the international scene, GE and CFM International, GE’s joint company with France’s Safran Aircraft Engines, have reported a combined total of $25 billion in new business.

CFM entered the show with orders and commitments for more than 10,800 next-generation LEAP jet engines, valued at $151 billion (US list price), and the company won deals for at least 393 more. The company sold 565 engines valued at $8.2 billion. The tally includes its CFM56 engines and also business from undisclosed customers.

The LEAP is the world’s first jet engine with 3D-printed fuel nozzles and parts made from space-age ceramics called ceramic matrix composites. The technologies make the LEAP 15 percent more fuel-efficient than other similar engines made by CFM. It’s also quieter and emits less pollution. CFM designed the engine to power three types of aircraft: the Airbus A320neo, Boeing 737 MAX, and COMAC C919 planes. The first LEAP-powered 737 MAX had its public debut at the show while LEAP-powered Airbus A320neo is scheduled to enter service this month in the livery of Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines.

GE received the balance of the total, including a $1.5 billion deal for its CF-34 engines from China’s COMAC and a $1.4 billion GEnx service deal with the large cargo carrier Volga-Dnepr Group.

The orders cut across the unit’s broad portfolio and include engines for wide-body passenger planes, single-aisle aircraft, regional jets, and services. GE Additive wins seven deals from Honda Aircraft R&D, the power management company Eaton, Protolabs and others. GE Aviation also launched software and analytics partnerships with Microsoft and Teradata at the air show. Some of the notable deals included a $2.5 billion order for 58 GE90 engines and 20 GEnx engines from the cargo airlines Volga-Dnepr and CargoLogic Holding.

According to media reports, Delta has ordered 200 CFM LEAP-1B engines to power its new fleet of Boeing 737 10 aircraft. In addition, Delta’s Delta TechOps also signed a CFM Branded Service Agreement (CBSA) to support LEAP-1B engines. Under the terms of the CBSA, Delta becomes part of CFM’s maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) network for LEAP-1B engines. This agreement provides commercial and technical support to Delta TechOps to enable the MRO provider to offer a wide array of maintenance solutions to maintain the LEAP installed base to the highest standards. Delta was the first carrier to use CFM Engines. Now it’s buying more for a new fleet.