CF34 Engines Orders and Options Add Up to $9 Billion

CF34 Engines Orders and Options Add Up to $9 Billion

GE calls it the Small Commercial Engine Operation -- but it's not small any more.

GE has just taken a third partner in the next development of the wildly successful CF34 engine, the 18,000 lbs thrust CF34-10 for the 90-passenger Embraer ERJ-190 and Fairchild Dornier 928JET regional airliners.

The as-yet-unnamed partner, based in Europe, will assume 8-1/2% of GE's 70% stake and will be responsible for the entire booster module. IHI of Japan is the other partner.

"We have also picked the nacelle supplier, but I can't disclose who," Frank Klaus, general manager of Small Commercial Engines told Show News.

The CF34-10 is what GE calls a "significant derivative" and what others would term a new engine. It combines a scaled-down CFM56 compressor with a scaled GE90 fan and a CF34-type low-pressure turbine. "None of the technology is new, but this is the first time it has all come together in one engine," he said.

The "very aggressive" development schedule is not conducive to trying anything new, and in any case the regional market doesn't want the associated risks, he said, preferring reliability, maintainability and low cost over enhanced performance.

The runaway success of the CF34 turbofan engine in the regional airliner jet market -- it's the exclusive powerplant on every airplane over 50 seats bar the Embraer ERJ-145 -- means GE has reaped 2,200 firm engine orders and more than 2,500 on option. That adds up to a $9 billion business.

Not bad for a powerplant that started life as a military engine on the Fairchild A-10 tank-buster, was developed into a turbofan for the Challenger business jet-and was in the right place at the right time when the stretched Challenger became the 50-passenger Canadair Regional Jet.

"It cost about $60 million to develop it into an airliner engine," recalls Frank Klaus, general manager of GE's Small Commercial Engine Operation. "And even then there were many who doubted it was a good investment."

Regional jets were indeed suspect. Even launch customer Comair sent turboprops chasing its first passenger Regional Jet flights to pick up the passengers should the new turbofans fail.

The RJs sold only slowly, and when Bombardier wanted a bigger engine for the 70-passenger CRJ700, many in GE advised extreme caution as they viewed forecasts for a market of 400 aircraft as too optimistic. But a few diehards fought and won the battle over the business plan-and the regional airliner market exploded.

"I am just thrilled and humbled to be in the middle of it all," Klaus told Show News. "We have a backlog of over $7 billion on CF34 engines alone, excluding services -- for airplanes that aren't in service yet, and haven't been built yet. That shows a tremendous confidence in our product."

It is, he said, like a surfer riding the biggest wave he's ever seen in his life -- and knowing it must come ashore sometime.

Now Klaus is focused on getting the new engines developed, certified, and into service on time. "We have a tremendous job of execution to do," he said, "on several concurrent programs."

First he must orchestrate the smooth entry into service early next year of the 14,000 lbs thrust CF34-8C1 on the 70-passenger Bombardier CRJ700. This is the first CF34 with a FADEC (full authority digital electronic control), and it will be the first time many of the regional airline customers have encountered this technology. That means smoothing the interface all round. "They have to know what it means when it says 'fault,'" Klaus explained -- and how to fix it and still depart on schedule.

The CRJ700s competitors, the Embraer ERJ-170 and Fairchild Dornier 728JET, powered respectively by the CF34-8E and CF34-8D, will need their engines ready for entry into service in early 2002. Meanwhile GE is developing the CF34-8C5 for the 90-passenger Bombardier CRJ900.

"This means we will have three flight test programs to support at the same time on three continents: Embraer in Brazil and the U.S., Fairchild Dornier in Germany and Spain, and Bombardier in Wichita," he said. These are all basically the same engine with different nacelles and slightly different thrust ratings, but similar enough for GE to try to certify them all together, Klaus said.
GE shares the 8 engine with 30% partner Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI), who is responsible for the low-pressure turbine, high-pressure compressor and some accessories.

By John Morris