Subsidiary | |
Industry | Aerospace |
Founded | 1917 |
Headquarters | Evendale, Ohio, United States |
Key people
|
David L. Joyce (President & CEO) |
Products |
Aircraft engines Avionics |
Revenue | US$24.7 billion (2015) |
US$22.129 billion (2005) | |
US$16.353 billion (2005) | |
Number of employees
|
26,800 (2007) |
Parent | General Electric |
Subsidiaries |
GE Aviation Systems Walter Aircraft Engines GE Honda Aero Engines (50%) CFM International (50%) Engine Alliance (50%) Aviage Systems (50%) Dowty Propellers (100%) Avio Aero SpA (100%) CFM Materials (50%) XEOS(49%) |
Website | www |
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 (GEAE) until September 2005. GE Aviation's main competitors in the engine market are Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney. GE operates two joint ventures with Snecma of France, CFM International and CFM Materials.
General Electric had a long history in steam turbine work, dating back to the 1900s. In 1903 they hired Sanford Alexander Moss, who, in time, started the development of turbosuperchargers at GE. This led to a series of record-breaking flights over the next ten years. At first the role of high-altitude flight was limited, but in the years immediately prior to WWII they became standard equipment on practically all military aircraft. GE was a world leader in this technology; most other firms concentrated on the mechanically simpler supercharger driven by the engine itself, while GE had spent considerable effort developing the exhaust driven turbo system that offered higher performance.
This work made them the natural industrial partner to develop jet engines when Frank Whittle's W.1 engine was demonstrated to Hap Arnold in 1941. A production license was arranged in September, and several of the existing W.1 test engines shipped to the US for study, where they were converted to US manufacture as the I-A. GE quickly started production of improved versions; the I-16 was produced in limited numbers starting in 1942, and the much more powerful I-40 followed in 1944, which went on to power the first US combat-capable jet fighters, the P-80 Shooting Star.