MTU Aero Engines is taking an approximate 6.6 percent role in General Electric's GEnx engine to power the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental airliner and the Boeing 747-8 Freighter. Germany's leading engine manufacturer will be manufacturing and assuming design responsibility for the engine's turbine center frame. MTU figures the deal can be worth over 11 billion euros in revenue, taken over the life of the program. About 1,150 engines are already on firm order or option.

"Our stake in the GEnx program expands our role in the promising widebody segment and further deepens our close, long-standing cooperation with General Electric," emphasized MTU CEO Egon Behle. "It gives us a share in a paramount future engine in the upper thrust category and helps balance the mix of our product portfolio." Widebody commercial transports are considered an appreciably growing segment of the airliner market that is less severely exposed to economic fluctuations than others. As a risk and revenue sharing partner, MTU participates in the engine's sales and profits while simultaneously sharing in the risks involved.

In 2008, MTU inked new program participations totaling some 30 billion euros in projected revenue. "Our participations in geared turbofan engines, most recently the powerplant for the CSeries, have underscored the importance of our cooperation with Pratt & Whitney and provided new impetus for the future," stated Behle, who went on to say: "Never before has MTU signed up for such extensive new program stakes in a single year. That will secure jobs at MTU long-term in production and maintenance."