EVENDALE, Ohio - China Southern Airlines made aviation history Sunday (July 20), launching the world's first nonstop, twin-engine transpacific flight between the mainlands of China and the U.S. with the GE90-powered Boeing 777.
China Southern, which operates about 90 aircraft to more than 60 cities worldwide, inaugurated its new Guangzhou-to-Los Angeles route with yesterday's flight. The U.S. Department of Transportation granted permission for the new route in June. China Southern is headquartered in Guangzhou, northwest of Hong Kong.
China Southern's GE90-powered 777s received extended-range, twin-engine international operations (ETOPS) approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China in May, making the 14-hour, nonstop route possible. The GE90-90B growth engine was designed to provide ETOPS capability over the Pacific Ocean; yesterday's flight represents the 777's first transpacific ETOPS operation. ETOPS approval provides airlines greater route-scheduling flexibility and economy as it allows twin-engine aircraft to service routes traditionally reserved for three- or four-engine aircraft.
The GE90 is the world's largest and most powerful jet engine and has demonstrated outstanding performance in nearly two years of revenue service powering the 777. In logging nearly 100,000 revenue flight hours, the GE90-powered 777 has experienced no in-flight shutdowns and has maintained an industry-leading 99.97 percent dispatch reliability rate on this aircraft. Dispatch reliability is based on the number of flights delayed for 15 minutes or more, or canceled, for any engine-caused reason.
The GE90-powered 777 is in service with China Southern and British Airways. In addition, Air France, Continental Airlines, Kuwait Airways, GE Capital Aviation Services, International Lease Finance Corporation, Lauda Air, and Saudi Arabian Airlines have ordered 92 firm and option GE90-powered 777s at a value of more than $3 billion.