Qatar Airways made a commitment for the purchase rights of an additional
50 GE9X-powered Boeing 777-9X aircraft. If exercised, the list price for
these engines is valued at more than $3.8 billion (USD).
The additional commitment follows the finalization of Qatar’s order for
50 GE9X-powered Boeing 777X that was placed during the Dubai Air Show in
November. Qatar’s total GE9X-powered 777X fleet could total 100 aircraft.
“Qatar Airways’ commitment for purchase rights of additional
GE9X-powered 777X demonstrates the airlines confidence and commitment to
the new engine-aircraft combination,” said Bill Fitzgerald, vice
president and general manager of Commercial Engines at GE Aviation. “The
new GE9X engine will be the largest, most fuel efficient engine, and
with more than 700 engines on order, it is become one of the fastest
selling widebody engines for GE Aviation.”
The GE9X engine will be in the 100,000-pound thrust class with a 10
percent improvement in fuel burn over today's GE90-115B. Key features
include: the industry's largest front fan, composite fan case and
fourth-generation composite fan blades, highest pressure ratio
compressor for any large GE engine, third-generation TAPS (twin annular
pre-swirl) combustor for greater efficiency and low emissions, and
ceramic matrix composite (CMC) material in the combustor and turbine.
Recently announced participants in the GE9X program include IHI
Corporation, Snecma and Techspace Aero (Safran) and MTU Aero Engines.
Qatar Airways, the State of Qatar’s national airline, has seen rapid
growth in just 17 years of operations, to the point where today it is
flying a modern fleet of 134 aircraft to 144 key business and leisure
destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North
American and South America. Qatar Airways recently joined the oneworld
Alliance, becoming the only major Gulf carrier to join a global airline
alliance, enabling its customers to benefit from almost a thousand
airports in more than 150 countries, with 14,000 daily departures. Qatar
Airways has orders worth over US$50 billion for more than 300 aircraft.
For more information, visit www.qatarairways.com.
GE Aviation, an operating unit of GE (NYSE: GE), is a world-leading
provider of jet, turboprop and turboshaft engines, components and
integrated systems for commercial, military, business and general
aviation aircraft. GE Aviation has a global service network to support
these offerings. For more information, visit us at www.ge.com/aviation.
Follow GE Aviation on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GEAviation
and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/GEAviation.
Copyright Business Wire 2014