With three years of service under its belt, GE’s Passport engine has surpassed 50,000 flight hours on Bombardier’s premier ultra-long range business jet, the Global 7500. “Reliability is key for any engine program,” said Dennis Krause, Passport Services Manager. “Above all else, our goal is that our engines are ready to fly wherever our customers want to go. In that regard, Passport is off to a great start.”
In a league of its own
Derived from more than 100 years of GE engine innovation, design, and manufacturing, Passport is an engineer’s dream. Incorporating engine technology from GE’s vast and impressive commercial and military engine portfolios, Passport incorporates the best advances in engine design concepts.
Among the technologies is a blisk fan compressor design that minimizes air loss, reduces vibration and wear, and drives efficiency. The engine boasts a high-efficiency, rich-burn combustor with a no-limit throttle and next-gen fuel nozzle that contribute to an improved fuel burn of 4% over similar engines in its class. The advanced long duct mixed-flow exhaust system helps provide best in class community and cabin noise experience.
As with any new technology, trust and credibility matter. As the in-service Global 7500 customer base has grown rapidly since 2018, the reliability of Passport has been put to the test and delivered solidly with zero inflight shutdowns and zero turnarounds out of nearly 25,000 cycles.
High standards remain par for the course, but our customers are looking for more
Business jet customers have high standards when it comes to their flight technology. While traditional performance drivers such as engine power, range ability, and fuel burn remain important, new areas have emerged as highly coveted attributes. For instance, sustainability and environmental responsibility are critical to the future of the aviation industry, and GE is committed to doing its part. With a variety of technology to reduce not just carbon but also NOx, noise, and other pollutants, Passport delivers a better and cleaner fuel burn with all the power and performance that customers have come to expect.
Most importantly, above performance or power, is the safety of customers. While guaranteeing a safe and trouble-free flight has always been deemed table stakes or a given, COVID has altered much of the perception around what safety really means. As business jets previously used primarily for work are now shuttling families around the world, the trust that customers are placing on these assets today is very real. GE works meticulously to bring not just the right design and build to optimize performance but its whole suite of capabilities to lift customers up and bring them home safely.
It’s all about product services and support
Complementing the Passport engine’s innovative technology is GE’s OnPoint services program, which is the gold standard of engine services programs.
OnPoint provides the most comprehensive coverage and is a full-risk transfer of a customer’s engine maintenance, support, and service requirements. With a global service network, GE’s support teams can meet its customers wherever they are. As the engine OEM, GE can deliver unparalleled quality and technical expertise while servicing the engine, enabling the greatest possible residual aircraft value.
Horizontal technology … incorporating best practices into both new and legacy products
As GE considers its next-gen products as well as its legacy engines, the vision remains to give customers the value and assurance they expect from a GE engine, while continuing the tradition of advancing flight technologies and reducing carbon emissions. This means combining proven reliability with exciting new technology. Legacy engine lines such as GE’s CF34 and CFM International’s CFM56 have long set the standard for reliability, and newer technologies have been integrated into these existing products over time. Their success created the foundation from which new products, such as Passport, were successfully launched. GE will continue to build on decades of industry leadership and pioneer aviation’s next great era with cleaner, lower carbon engines that are still powerful and reliable.
The advantage of this rich design history combined with the massive amount of fleet data available is the unique ability to drive reliability and performance optimization. With the flexibility and technical expertise to support all products from legacy to next generation, the comprehensive OnPoint services program and prognostics capabilities keep engines operating at their full potential.
The year ahead
As GE begins 2022, and considers what they want to accomplish, demonstrated technological prowess and customer satisfaction take starring roles. GE’s goal as an engine technology provider has always been to keep its customers flying safely, comfortably, and reliably. They are excited to add “sustainably” to this list. This year, GE will offer carbon offset to its OnPoint customers to help offset flights. The company is growing its global services team to better serve customers and to evolve and enhance the diagnostics package that comes standard with all OnPoint programs.
“In 2021, we saw record breaking growth from our Business Aviation platforms,” said Krause. “I’m extremely proud when I hear from our customers that they love the reliability of our products. I’m equally as proud to hear that when service is needed, they love the thoroughness with which our teams find the root cause and drive resolution.”