The Future of Flight: GE Aerospace Closes Week at Paris Air Show with Big Deals on GEnx, LEAP, and Avionics

Anyone who visited the GE Aerospace chalet at the Paris Air Show, on the grounds of Le Bourget Airport, came away with three distinct impressions: The market for engines is growing, lean is working, and new technologies are on the rise.

“Our team brought to life how lean is empowering our people, driving operational improvements, and enabling us to better serve our customers, suppliers, and partners,” said Larry Culp, GE chairman and CEO and GE Aerospace CEO. “We also had the opportunity to showcase our CFM RISE program technology, including our development of open-fan architecture, hybrid electric systems, compact core, and compatibility with sustainable aviation fuel.” CFM International is a 50-50 joint company between GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines.

The GE Aerospace team also inked a number of contracts, announcing growth in its order book across jet engines, services, avionics, and digital offerings. The deals include more than 100 GEnx-1B engines, as well as 70 CFM LEAP-1A engines, 80 CFM LEAP-1B engines, and 37 CF34-8E engines, along with multiple service contracts.

Here are some highlights from the show.

 

 

A Riyadh Air 787 Dreamliner with GEnx-1B engines. Top: A Boeing 777X with GE9X engines in flight. Images credit: GE Aerospace

 

The market for wide-body planes is taking off again. The Boeing 777X, powered by GE9X engines, made a spectacular appearance at Le Bourget (top), while the GEnx-1B, which powers Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner and 787 cargo jets, was in demand. Riyadh Air ordered 90 GEnx-1B engines, plus spares and a TrueChoice services contract, and China Airlines ordered 17 GEnx-1B engines and spares. That’s a GEnx-1B on the wing of a Riyadh Air 787 at the show (above).

 

The Airbus A321XLR with CFM LEAP-1A engines.

It was a good show for other GE Aerospace engine lines as well. Jet2 plc, a CFM customer since 2002, selected CFM LEAP-1A engines to power up to 71 new Airbus A320/A321 Neo family aircraft, 35 of which are firm orders. (That’s an Airbus A321XLR sporting LEAP-1A engines at the show, above.) The deal also includes spares and a services contract.

 

The Boeing 737 with CFM LEAP-1B engines.

Avolon, an international aircraft-leasing company, ordered 80 CFM LEAP-1B engines to power 40 Boeing 737 MAX commercial jets (above). Avolon has been a CFM customer since 2010 and has a fleet of more than 400 CFM-powered aircraft in its portfolio.

Additionally, Air India reaffirmed its commitment, which was first announced in February, to power its new fleet of 210 Airbus A320/A321 Neos and 190 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft with CFM LEAP engines. The airline also signed a multi-year services agreement. And Republic Airways ordered 37 CF34-8E engines for its fleet of Embraer E170/175 regional jets. The order includes spares and an extension of the airline’s TrueChoice services agreement.

 

The GE Aerospace chalet on the grounds of Le Bourget Airport.

A half-scale model of CFM’s Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE) open-fan architecture.

 

Over the course of the week, the leadership team held numerous meetings inside the GE Aerospace chalet (top), where visitors got a firsthand look at a half-scale model of CFM’s Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE) open-fan architecture and heard the latest program updates (bottom).

 

The Lockheed Martin F-35.An F-16 fighter with an F110 engine.

Some significant announcements were made on the military side as well. GE Aerospace delivered the 1,200th shipset system for the Lockheed Martin F-35 (top) for each of the seven avionics and power systems in the company’s global manufacturing and support network. And the company boosted its military engine services by signing an agreement with TUSAS Engine Industries Inc. (TEI) to extend TEI’s license to provide “depot level maintenance services” for the F110 engine for several countries that operate F-16 and F-15 fighters (bottom).

 

Visitors at the 2023 Paris Air Show. 

An estimated 300,000 people visited the 2023 Paris Air Show, including 130,000 trade visitors. For GE Aerospace and CFM International, it was a welcome return. As the week ended, both companies sealed additional deals and celebrated new achievements. Garuda Indonesia announced a strategic cooperation with GE Aerospace to restore the airline’s fleet of CFM56-7B and GE90-115B engines. And GE Aerospace announced that it had run one of the world’s largest simulations to model the revolutionary open-fan engine architecture using the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Frontier supercomputer, the world's fastest supercomputer, becoming the first business to use Frontier.