EVENDALE, Ohio - TAM Brazilian Airlines has selected General Electric Company's GEnx engine to power its new order of 10 firm Airbus A350-900 aircraft. TAM is scheduled to begin taking delivery of the new A350s in late 2012.
"The advanced technology of the GEnx was a big factor in our decision," said Marco Bologna, president of TAM. "The low operating costs of the engine, coupled with the inherent GE reliability it will bring, made the GEnx the perfect choice to help us renew and expand our long-haul fleet."
To date, GE has signed agreements to power a total of 122 A350 aircraft with its fast-selling GEnx engine.
"We're pleased that TAM has made GE the engine supplier of choice for its wide-body fleet," said Scott Donnelly, president and CEO of GE - Aviation. "The airline already operates CF6-80E-powered A330s. This order gives us the opportunity to broaden and strengthen the relationship we've already built with this great customer and to be a part of its growth. The GEnx technology advantages are unmatched in the industry: low fuel burn, low noise, low emissions, and mature reliability at entry into service. TAM will have all of these advantages, backed by GE's world-class customer and product support organization."
Airbus has established an integrated certification schedule for the A350, which includes GEnx engine flight-testing in 2009, and aircraft/engine certification in 2010. GE has a full-time team of engineers at the Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, collaborating on the A350 program.
The GEnx is based on the highly successful GE90 architecture. It will succeed GE's CF6 engine family, which is the most reliable and best-selling engine on wide-body aircraft. It provides significantly better fuel burn and payload performance than GE's CF6 engines.
The GEnx engine is the world's only jet engine with a front fan case and fan blades made of composites, which provide for greater engine durability, weight reduction and lower operating costs. The fan blades will utilize GE90 composite technology that has performed well, with no routine on-wing maintenance required and no in-service issue for almost a decade. The GEnx will operate with 18 fan blades (50 percent fewer than the CF6) at noise levels lower than any large GE commercial engine. The GEnx also features a new combustor for efficient fuel mixing before ignition, resulting in significantly lower NOx levels.
The GEnx is part of GE's "ecomagination" product portfolio--GE's commitment to develop new, cost-effective technologies that enhance customers' environmental and operating performance.