The Future Of Flight

GE Aviation Has Created Self-sufficiencies As Far As Engines, Additive Manufacturing And R&D Is Concerned

- Jayashree Kini Mendes

A TRIP TO THE GE AVIATION CAMPUS IN Bengaluru can be a fascinating experience. For so long, a layperson outside the sphere of aerospace has grown up with the thought that much secrecy enshrouds these places what with some of the most exclusive R&D being carried out. Of course, GE Aviation would have plenty of them. Any aviation manufacturing company that caters to high-profile aircraft companies would have plenty of its own secrets. But few would go through the trouble of sharing some of the most delicate details with non-personnel.

GE Aviation went one step further. In keeping with 100 years of GE Aviation and 20 years of aviation engineering in India, the company chose to present its LEAP engine, the lab facility and additive manufacturing prowess.

Situated on a 55-acre campus, the John F Welch Technology Centre in Whitefield has more than 4500 employees and is a multi-disciplinary campus. Technology Centre; and Vikram Reddy, executive, GE Aviation, India, have some very engaging stories to tell. But the focus largely was on the LEAP engine that its joint venture company CFM International has developed. The successor to CFM56, LEAP offers 15% improvement in fuel consumption, while maintaining life-cycle maintenance costs. It has been built for higher reliability and for airlines this means keeping the plane more time in the air and less maintenance on ground.