page_title: GE Aviation
section_title: GE Aviation today
hierarchical_section_title: GE Aviation / History / GE Aviation today
caption_attribution_description: GE Aircraft Engines' Boeing 747 with the GE90-115 engine on the #2 pylon at Mojave during flight test of the world's largest jet engine
context_page_description: GE Aviation, a subsidiary of General Electric, is headquartered in Evendale, Ohio, outside Cincinnati. GE Aviation is among the top aircraft engine suppliers, and offers engines for the majority of commercial aircraft. GE Aviation is part of the General Electric conglomerate, which is one of the world's largest corporations. The division operated under the name of General Electric Aircraft Engines until September 2005. GE Aviation's main competitors in the engine market are Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney. GE operates two joint ventures with Safran Aircraft Engines of France, CFM International and CFM Materials.
context_section_description: Then-GEAE (and competitor Rolls-Royce) were selected by Boeing to power its new 787. GE Aviation's offering is the GEnx, a development of the GE90.  GE Aviation also has a two-year exclusivity on the Boeing 747-8.
  The Lynn facility continues to assemble jet engines for the United States Department of Defense, subsidiary services, and commercial operators. Engines assembled at this plant include the F404, F414, T700, and CFE738. The plant at Lynn also produces the -3 and -8 variants of the CF34 regional jet engine, the CT7 commercial turboprop power plant, and commercial versions of the T700 turboshaft which are also called the CT7.
  The Evendale plant conducts final assembly for the CFM International's CFM56, CF6, as well as LM6000, and LM2500 power plants.
  The Durham, North Carolina, facility conducts final assembly for the LEAP-X, GEnx, CFM56, GE90, GP7200, and CF34 power plants. Crucial parts for these engines are crafted in secondary GE Aviation facilities, such as those in Bromont, Quebec; Hooksett, New Hampshire; Wilmington, North Carolina; Madisonville, Kentucky; Rutland, Vermont; and Muskegon, Michigan; where the engine blades and vanes are manufactured.
  Smiths Group and General Electric announced on January 15, 2007, that the former was divesting Smiths Aerospace to the latter for GBP£2.4 billion (US$ 4.8 billion). GE Aviation closed the transaction on May 4, 2007. Smiths Aerospace, which was an important supplier, became an operating subsidiary of GE Aviation known as GE Aviation Systems. This acquisition will reportedly give the combined unit the clout to resist pricing pressures from its two largest customers, Boeing Commercial Airplanes and EADS/Airbus. Analysts further assert that it enables General Electric to acquire assets similar to those it desired in its failed bid for Honeywell in 2000.
  Along with the purchase of Smiths Aerospace, the purchase included opening the first University Development Center at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan, in the effort to work with engineering students to provide training in engineering and software development. The program has performed well and GE Aviation has announced further UDC openings at Kansas State University. 
  In July 2008, governments in the Persian Gulf reached agreements with GE to expand engine maintenance operations there.  The Wall Street Journal reported that Mubadala Development Company, which owns Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies, an overhaul, and maintenance company, signed an agreement worth an estimated $8 billion with GE; Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies will maintain and overhaul GE engines used in commercial aircraft purchased by airlines based in the Persian Gulf.
  On December 23, 2012,  GE announced that it has agreed to purchase the aviation business of Avio S.p.A., an Italy-based manufacturer of aviation propulsion components and systems for civil and military aircraft, for $4.3 billion U.S. (EUR3.3 billion).
  GE Aviation follows through to develop a supersonic engine concept for Aerion with a configuration accommodating reasonably well requirements for supersonic speed, subsonic speed and noise levels.
caption: General Electric used its 747-100 testbed in the 1990s for the GE90 which powers the Boeing 777-300ER, 777-200LR and 777F.
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