Milestone Moment: First GE90-94B Engines Reach 100,000 Flight Hours
December 22, 2021 | by Jim Elliott and Chelsey Levingston
The GE90 engine program reached a new milestone as of this October, with the first two GE90-94B engines crossing 100,000 engine flight hours operated by Austrian Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
Few GE engines accumulate 100,000 hours of flight. In fact, less than 500 GE Aviation and CFM International* engines have accomplished this feat. Now, GE90-94B engines have joined CF6-6, CF6-50, CF6-80C2, CF6-80E1 and CFM56-5C engines in accruing this amount of time on wing, equivalent to more than 11 years of continuous flying.
Additional GE90-94B engines are expected to cross the 100,000 mark in coming months.
“For any single engine to reach 100,000 flight hours is a testament to the fundamental design, and for GE Aviation it’s also significant, as the GE90-94B design is the basis for all of GE’s commercial turbofans introduced since then,” said Jim Elliott, principal engineer for GE90 Services Systems Engineering. “The introduction of the GE90 engine also helped establish improved customer and product support operations that GE Aviation continues to use for new product introductions today.”
The engine operated by Austrian Airlines was originally delivered in September 1997 and has since completed approximately 11,500 engine flight cycles (takeoffs and landings). During its lifetime, the engine has flown approximately three million passengers to their destinations around the world and back home safely.
The engine operated by KLM was originally delivered to Air France in March 1998 and has completed 12,574 engine flight cycles, (takeoffs and landings). KLM and Air France merged in May 2004 to create Air France–KLM Group. After the merger, the combined GE90-94B and GE90-115B fleets at both airlines began to be managed as one airline. The milestone engine operated with Air France for ~49,000 flight hours and with KLM ~51,000 flight hours.
The KLM B777 fleet consists of 15 B777-200 aircraft powered by the GE90-94B engine and 16 B777-300 aircraft powered by the GE90-115B engine.
In 2020, the GE90 engine program celebrated its 25th service anniversary and over 100 million engine flight hours as an entire fleet, including GE90-94B and GE90-115B models. To date, more than 2,800 GE90 engines have been delivered.
*CFM International is a 50-50 joint company between GE and Safran Aircraft Engines.
Few GE engines accumulate 100,000 hours of flight. In fact, less than 500 GE Aviation and CFM International* engines have accomplished this feat. Now, GE90-94B engines have joined CF6-6, CF6-50, CF6-80C2, CF6-80E1 and CFM56-5C engines in accruing this amount of time on wing, equivalent to more than 11 years of continuous flying.
Additional GE90-94B engines are expected to cross the 100,000 mark in coming months.
“For any single engine to reach 100,000 flight hours is a testament to the fundamental design, and for GE Aviation it’s also significant, as the GE90-94B design is the basis for all of GE’s commercial turbofans introduced since then,” said Jim Elliott, principal engineer for GE90 Services Systems Engineering. “The introduction of the GE90 engine also helped establish improved customer and product support operations that GE Aviation continues to use for new product introductions today.”
Top: A KLM GE90-powered 777 reached a milestone 100,000 flight hours. Photos courtesy KLM. Above: An Austrian Airlines GE90-powered 777 has also crossed the 100,000 flight hours threshold. Photo courtesy Austrian Airlines.
The engine operated by Austrian Airlines was originally delivered in September 1997 and has since completed approximately 11,500 engine flight cycles (takeoffs and landings). During its lifetime, the engine has flown approximately three million passengers to their destinations around the world and back home safely.
The engine operated by KLM was originally delivered to Air France in March 1998 and has completed 12,574 engine flight cycles, (takeoffs and landings). KLM and Air France merged in May 2004 to create Air France–KLM Group. After the merger, the combined GE90-94B and GE90-115B fleets at both airlines began to be managed as one airline. The milestone engine operated with Air France for ~49,000 flight hours and with KLM ~51,000 flight hours.
The KLM B777 fleet consists of 15 B777-200 aircraft powered by the GE90-94B engine and 16 B777-300 aircraft powered by the GE90-115B engine.
In 2020, the GE90 engine program celebrated its 25th service anniversary and over 100 million engine flight hours as an entire fleet, including GE90-94B and GE90-115B models. To date, more than 2,800 GE90 engines have been delivered.
*CFM International is a 50-50 joint company between GE and Safran Aircraft Engines.
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