SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - Qantas and General Electric Company (GE) celebrated one million flight hours by the airline's fleet of CF6-powered twin-engine aircraft without an engine-caused in-flight shutdown. This represents a performance that is six times better than world average.
Qantas began operating GE CF6-80C2-powered Boeing 767s in 1987. Today, the Australian airline operates 22 CF6-80C2-powered Boeing 767 aircraft, as well as 14 Airbus A330 aircraft powered by CF6-80E1 engines.
"This is an outstanding milestone," says Colleen Athans, general manager of GE's CF6 engine program. "We congratulate Qantas and its engineering and maintenance teams on their exemplary fleet management and look forward to another million flight hours of exceptional performance. This achievement demonstrates world-class safety and reliability performance."
In addition to the CF6-powered twin-engine aircraft, Qantas also operates nine Boeing 747 aircraft powered by CF6-80C2 engines and 54 737 aircraft with CFM56 engines. CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between Snecma and General Electric Company, produces CFM56 engines.
For more than 30 years, the GE CF6 engine family has been among the most reliable and best-selling commercial engines powering more than 10 models of wide-body aircraft and has flown more hours than any other high-bypass engine family. In recent years, the engine family has also played a major role in military aviation in powering transports, tankers and surveillance aircraft.
GE - Aviation, an operating unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), is one of the world's leading manufacturers of jet engines for civil and military aircraft. GE also is a world-leading provider of maintenance and support services for jet engines.