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Building on a Legacy of Innovation: GE Celebrates 30 years of its CF34 Engine Powering Regional Flight

November 02, 2022 | by GE Aerospace Staff
A world-leading provider of jet engines, components, and systems for commercial and military aircraft, GE’s aviation business has been enabling the world to take flight as a leading innovator in aircraft propulsion and systems for more than 100 years.

On 2 November, GE will celebrate 30 years of the CF34 engine powering regional aircraft. It all began with Lufthansa CityLine as the regional airline launch customer in late 1992 and since then the CF34 has set the standard for performance, durability, and world-class reliability.

Along with accumulating more than 200 million flight hours and over 157 million flight cycles, GE remains committed to evolving and investing in its CF34 engine portfolio to help ensure the continued success of regional aviation. And, GE technologies are available now to help customers reduce carbon emissions.

“For instance,” explains Christina Seda-Hoelle, who leads GE’s regional aircraft engines and services business, “all of our engines can run on approved sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) today, which includes the CF34 engine.

“This, along with services such as GE’s proprietary 360 Foam Wash to restore engine performance, as well as GE Digital software to optimize flight operations to reduce fuel consumption, helps operators improve overall engine/aircraft efficiency while reducing their carbon footprint.”

She adds that GE is committed to a more sustainable future by investing in bold propulsion technologies for the future of flight and making its operations carbon neutral. In fact, GE’s ambition is to be a net zero company by 2050 for emissions associated with the use of sold products.

“The CF34 engine family has seen continuous technology infusion and durability improvements over now more than 30-year lifetime, and we will continue to bring CF34 efficiency forward as well as do all we can to support the regional airline industry.”

 

CF34-3 turbofan before regional: four decades of proven performance

The CF34-3 powers the Challenger 650 business jet as well as the Bombardier CRJ200 regional airliner.

In regions where reliability, durability, and time-on-wing matter most, the 8,729lb thrust CF34-3 has consistently delivered with a 99.99 per cent on time departure rating.

This earliest CF34 engine model started out in military as the TF34, most famously on the A-10 Warthog in the early 1970s. The CF34 engine entered service on the Bombardier Challenger 601 Corporate Jet in 1983. Since its debut on regional jets in 1992 on the Challenger 601, the engine has earned a reputation as one of the most fuel-efficient engines in its class.

Today, the CF34 engine family powers approximately 10,000 daily passenger flights with 178 commercial operators based in 76 countries. The engine line, which includes CF34-3, CF34-8, and CF34-10 models, has a track record for outstanding reliability and durability, with a dispatch reliability rate ranging between 99.96 per cent and 99.99 per cent (12-month rolling).

Building on its legacy of innovation to boldly redefine the possibilities of flight for generations to come, GE Aviation is becoming GE Aerospace. With its huge installed base, GE Aerospace will continue to play a vital role in supporting the industry through a historic recovery while helping to shape the future of flight.

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GE Aerospace is a world-leading provider of jet and turboprop engines, as well as integrated systems for commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft.