General Electric (GE) announced on March 14, 2018, it has begun flight trials of the world’s largest jet engine – the GE9XTM. The new engine will power Boeing’s 777X aircraft, due to enter service in 2020.

In a press release, GE Aviation, an operating unit of GE, stated the new GE9XTM commercial engine lifted off for its first flight test on March 13, 2018, under a left wing of Boeing 747 test aircraft in Victorville, California, U.S.

The GE9X took to the air around 10:40 a.m. Pacific standard time and flew for more than four hours. During the flight, engineers completed their test list on the aircraft and the engine, and ensured key operational and functional characteristics were working properly.

“The GE9X and Victorville teams have spent months preparing for flight testing of the engine, and their efforts paid off today with a picture-perfect first flight,” said Ted Ingling, general manager of the GE9X program.

The successful first flight marks the beginning of a several-month-long flight test campaign that will allow “to accumulate data on how the engine performs at altitude and during various phases of flight,” Ingling said, before the aircraft itself can take to the skies in 2019.

The huge GE9X engine – with the width and height of the fuselage of a 737 – is being built for the latest version of Boeing’s long-haul 777 jet, the 777X, due to enter service in 2020, Reuters reports.

Technical glitches and delays

According to GE Aviation, certification testing of the engine began in May 2017. Beyond flight testing, the engine recently completed icing tests at the company’s facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Crosswind testing continues at the Peebles Test Operation in Ohio, U.S.

Flight tests had been expected to start back in December 2017, however, GE announced in February 2018, it had found technical problems during preparations with both the engine and the test aircraft, Reuters writes.

The engine flaw will require redesign of a part in the compressor, which is near the front of the engine and is not able to handle the hottest air flows. Nevertheless, the company expects to meet the 2019 target date for the engine safety certification.

A possible best-seller

Despite delays, the U.S. conglomerate says it has almost 700 GE9X engines on order. In a statement, Bill Fitzgerald, vice president and general manager of Commercial Engines at GE Aviation said: “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 wide-body engines for GE Aviation.”

Among buyers of the new commercial aircraft engine is All Nippon Airways (ANA) which ordered 20 GE9X-powered 777X aircraft and six GE90-115B-powered 777-300ERs in March 2014. The combined engine orders were valued at $2 billion in list prices.

In July 2014, Qatar Airways made a commitment for a purchase of 50 additional GE9X-powered 777-9X aircraft after a previous order for 50 GE9X-powered 777Xs, totaling the airline‘s GE9X 777X fleet to 100 aircraft. The list price for the additional engines was valued at more than $3.8 billion.

And in February 2017, Singapore Airlines (SIA) announced an order for 20 GE9X-powered 777-9 jets and five spare engines. The order is valued at more than $2.0 billion in list prices.

It seems the company’s strides in jet and turboprop engine manufacturing could really take off, particularly considering the long series of its rival Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan (GTF) engine hiccups that are halting Airbus deliveries.

It is no wonder then that GE’s new CEO John Flannery has reset the focus of his company on three of GE’s biggest business lines – one of them being GE Aviation, WSJ reported back in November 2017.

GE Aviation’s partners in the GE9X program are France’s Safran Aircraft Engines, Safran Aero Boosters, Japan’s IHI Corporation and Germany’s MTU Aero Engines.

GE9X key features

According to GE Aviation, the GE9X engine will be in the 100,000 lb thrust class and will have the largest front fan at 134 inches in diameter with a composite fan case and 16 fourth generation carbon fiber composite fan blades.

Other key features include: a next-generation 27:1 pressure-ratio 11-stage high-pressure compressor; a third-generation TAPS III combustor for high efficiency and low emissions; and CMC material in the combustor and turbine.

The GE9X is supposed to continue and improve upon the performance of GE90. The new engine is designed to deliver a 10% improved aircraft fuel burn compared to the GE90-115B-powered 777-300ER.

It is also set for a 5% improved specific fuel consumption versus any twin-aisle engine available, as well as achieve an approximate 10:1 bypass ration, a 60:1 overall pressure ration and margin to Stage 5 noise limits.