FRANKFURT, GERMANY - May 2, 2012 - Lufthansa held a special celebration in Frankfurt, Germany, today with Boeing and GE to welcome the first 747-8 Intercontinental, powered by four GEnx-2B engines, to its fleet. Lufthansa is the launch customer for the passenger aircraft and has ordered a total of 20 747-8Is with options for an additional 20 aircraft. The first flight of the new aircraft from Frankfurt to Washington D.C. (Dulles International Airport) is scheduled for June 1.
"Our partners GE and Lufthansa helped us to build a great airplane with the most advanced wing and engines in service. This airplane will allow operators to carry more people and goods farther, faster, with much lower fuel burn and emissions," said Elizabeth Lund, Boeing vice president and general manager of the 747-8 Program. "Coupled with an all-new Dreamliner-inspired interior, this new airplane will set the standards for performance, environmental responsibility and passenger satisfaction for the 21st century."
"Today's celebration at for the GEnx-powered Boeing 747-8I at Lufthansa is exciting news for our customer and is the culmination of six months of delivery milestones for the GEnx engine," said Chuck Nugent, general manager of the GEnx Program. "The GEnx engine has performed extremely well since it entered service in October, and GE employees are proud to see their efforts to design, test and manufacture the GEnx engine celebrated with customers around the world."
The first GEnx engine powering Boeing's 747-8 Freighter was delivered to Cargolux in October. Today 60 GEnx-2B engines are powering 15 Boeing 747-8 freighters for six customers. In March, Japan Airlines received the first two GEnx-1B-powered Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which entered service last week on the first non-stop route from Asia to Boston.
To date, the GEnx engine has accumulated more than 68,000 flight hours and more than 13,000 cycles since it entered revenue service six months ago. The engine has experience no interruptions or unscheduled removals with a 99.9% reliability rate.
Based on proven GE90 architecture, the GEnx engine combines the latest technology like the low-emission twin-annular combustor with advanced material like the durable, light-weight composite fan case and fan blades. Compared to GE's CF6 engine, the GEnx engine offers:
* Up to 15 percent better fuel efficiency, which translates to 15 percent less CO2,
* NOx gases emissions as much as 55 percent below today's regulatory limits on and the emission of other regulated gases as much as 90 percent below today's regulatory limits, and
* 30 percent lower noise levels.
The GEnx engine family is the fastest-selling engine in GE Aviation history with close to 1,300 engines on order. GE Aviation has been ramping up production of the GEnx engines over the last few years and plans to produce more than 160 GEnx engines this year and more than 200 GEnx engines in 2013.
Revenue-sharing participants on the GEnx are IHI Corporation of Japan, Avio SpA. of Italy, Volvo Aero of Sweden, MTU of Germany, TechSpace Aero of Belgium, Snecma (SAFRAN Group) of France and Samsung Techwin of Korea.
The GEnx is part of GE's "ecomagination" product portfolio - GE's business strategy to develop new, cost-effective technologies that enhance customers' environmental and operating performance.
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.
