A “production quality” problem in the first quarter caused GE Aviation to miss scheduled shipments for 29 GEnx engines, but so far the delay has not affected deliveries for the 787 and 747-8, says GE and Boeing officials.
GE Aviation plans to deliver nearly all of the delayed engines during the second quarter and meet a yearly target of shipping 275 to 300 GEnx engines, GE senior vice-president and chief financial officer Jeff Bornstein said on a 17 April earnings call.
Boeing confirms that the tardy shipments have not caused the 787 or 747-8 programmes to delay deliveries to customers.The GEnx-1B competes with the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 for orders with the 787 aircraft family, while the GEnx-2B powers the 747-8 freighter and passenger-carrying aircraft.
GE had planned to ship 80 GEnx engines to Boeing in the first quarter, or 10 more than the company delivered in the same period last year. But the company shipped only 51 engines through 31 March.
“During the first quarter, GE had a production quality issue with a component on the GEnx that slowed delivery of several GEnx-1B and GEnx-2B engines slated for delivery in the first quarter,” a GE Aviation spokesman wrote in a follow-up email.GE Aviation has not revealed the source of the production quality issue.
The GEnx has experienced three known component issues in production previously. In 2012, two GEnx engine failures was traced back to a lead-free coating that accelerated corrosion on the fan mid-shaft. An installation error on a low-pressure turbine nozzle also caused a GEnx-2B failure around the same time.Last year, GE also grounded one Air India 787-8 after discovering a flaw in a heat-treating process used for the accessory gearbox on the GEnx-1B.
