For The Long Haul: $2 Billion Engine Deal Helps Bring First Nonstop Flights Between Vietnam And The U.S.

Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways said on Wednesday it would purchase GE Aviation’s GEnx jet engines for 10 new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner jets. The deal, valued at $2 billion at list price, also includes an option to power an additional 20 jets. The jets will fly nonstop routes between Vietnam and the U.S. “As of now, Boeing 787-9 is one of the few modern wide-body aircraft that optimally fulfill the requirements of long-distance international routes such as the 13-hour nonstop flights between Vietnam and the US,” Bamboo said  in a news release.

In May 2020, a Boeing 787-9 powered by GEnx engines  set a world record for the longest nonstop flight with paying passengers when it flew from Tahiti to Paris. The plane covered 9,765-air-mile distance in 15 hours and 45 minutes after takeoff. The Australian carrier Qantas has flown a GE-powered Dreamliner even further in a series of experimental flights designed to test the effects on travelers of ultra-long-haul aviation. Made in part with advanced composite components, the GEnx engines offer up to 15% improved fuel-efficiency and 15% less carbon dioxide emissions compared to its GE predecessor, the CF6. More than 2,000 of the engines are in service today for 60 GE customers.

Huong Tran Kieu Dung, deputy president of board of management of Bamboo Airways and Dave Kircher, GEnx general manager at GE Aviation, signed an agreement to select GENx engine and maintenance package for Boeing 787-9 aircraft worth nearly $2 billion at U.S. list price. Image credits: Bamboo Airways.

This article first appeared on GE Reports.