GE and P&W GP7200 Earns FAA Certification

January 4, 2006 - According to a statement issued by Engine Alliance member General Electric (GE), the U. S. Federal Aviation Administration granted airworthiness certification to the Engine Alliance GP7200
engine, a powerplant for the Airbus A380.

The FAR (Federal Aviation Regulation) 33 certification
follows a ground and flight-test program that
involved eight engines over 21 months. During its development
and certification program the GP7200 ran some 7,000 cycles, 25
full-scale engine certification tests and more than 50
component tests, and powered two flight-test programs on a
flying test bed.

The engine is initially certified at 76,500
pounds of thrust and has the capability to produce over 81,500
pounds with the same bill of material. During its certification
program the engine was tested at thrust levels in excess of
94,000 pounds.

"We put the GP7200 through as tough a test regime as
any engine has ever faced," said Bruce Hughes, Engine Alliance
president. "Even though the engine will be used on the
four-engine A380, we tested and certified it to the same
standards required for large twin-engine aircraft in ETOPS
(Extended-Range Twin Engine Operations).

The Alliance delivered four flight-test engines to
Airbus in September that will soon be installed on an A380
flight-test aircraft. Entry into service at Emirates is expected in 2007 according to GE.

The GP7200 is derived from two successful engines, the
GE90 and the PW4000, incorporating lessons learned from
millions of flight hours and benefiting from the two programs'
technologies. The GP7200 will ensure the A380
meets stringent Stage 4 noise regulations and QC2 departure
noise rules, and according to GE, its emissions are well below current and
anticipated regulations.

The GP7200 holds the market share lead with 55% of announced
firm engine orders for the A380. In addition to Emirates,
which has purchased or leased a total of 45 A380s, other Engine
Alliance customers include Air France, FedEx, Korean Air and
International Lease Finance Corporation. The Engine Alliance is
a 50/50 joint venture of General Electric (NYSE:GE) and Pratt &
Whitney, a United Technologies company (NYSE:UTX).

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