Betting Big on Business Aviation

General Electric Aviation's much-heralded eCore advanced gas generator may see its introductory application not in an airliner engine but in a business jet powerplant - the long-awaited "10K," or 10,000-pound-thrust class turbofan the company has promised for several years amid an aura of super secrecy.

Now ready to talk about the project, the Cincinnati-based engine maker sees three scaled applications of varying thrust for the new core: narrowbody airliner, regional jet and business jet. In the last - which may be the first to market - the engine would power large-cabin business jets in what is developing to be a highly competitive segment, with Cessna's Pratt & Whitney Canada PW810-powered Columbus and Dassault Falcon Jet's Rolls-Royce RB282-equipped (and so-far unnamed) super midsize aircraft already announced. According to GE's Brad Mottier, vice president and general manager, business and general aviation, the company is working with at least two airframe manufacturers to size and match potential airframes to the 10K engine "to help make their aircraft the best they can be and to differentiate them from their competitors."

GE is choosing to launch the eCore - again, possibly - in the business aviation market because the segment represents more OEMs and development activity and tends to move at a faster pace than the airline field in which new aircraft emerge roughly once a decade.