Representing another “rite of passage” in business aviation jet performance, GE Aerospace today announced it will ship its 500th Passport engine this month and has delivered the first certified engines for Bombardier's new Global 8000 business jet. The new engine will deliver higher thrust, translating to increased speed powering the Global 8000 to be the world's fastest business aircraft.

Melvyn Heard, Business Aviation General Manager for GE Aerospace's Commercial Engines and Services business, noted that the production of the 500th Passport engine, and certification of the first engines for Bombardier's Global 8000 business jet, represents an exciting new chapter in GE Aerospace's partnership with Bombardier, and the future of business aviation, stating, “From Bombardier's Global 7500 business jet to the Global 8000 today, GE Aerospace has been proud to partner with Bombardier in moving business aviation travel faster, more efficiently and farther than ever before.”

“Bombardier's new Global 8000 business jet boasts the fastest maximum operating speed and an impressive range of 8,000 nautical miles. This magnificent aircraft and engine combination unlocks even more popular city pair possibilities, bringing the world closer and closer,” said Stephen McCullough, Senior Vice President, Engineering and Product Development, Bombardier. “Every design element of the Global 8000 contributes to an exceptionally quiet flight experience for the passenger. This includes many aspects within the Passport engine and engine installation.”

Heard added, “The Passport engine has been helping to set new standards in reliable, ultra-long-range business jet travel. During this time, we have created a customer support model that is second to none, leading the business aviation sector for four years running in product support.”

Heard noted that the product support services for the Passport engine finished #1 again for the 4th year in a row in AIN's annual product support survey. This recognition is a testament to the Passport engine's incredible dispatchability rate of 99.9%. Dispatchability for an engine measures how reliably it allows for on-time departures without causing undue disruptions or delays from an unexpected mechanical or other maintenance issue.

Heard credits GE Aerospace's continuous commitment to investing in new service technologies, with improving its product support services in the business aviation segment. For example, the company has developed and deployed AI-enabled digital solutions and tools over the past 10+ years that have improved the ability of GE Aerospace's fleet support team and MRO networks to predictively monitor and service its engines. This has enabled 60% earlier lead times in identifying predictive maintenance recommendations and for more conditions on our engines to be monitored over time.