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GE, Honda Bring Jet Engine Company to Cincinnati"
LAS VEGAS --General Electric Co. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. have formally established a newjoint venture company, GE Honda Aero Engines LLC, which is pursuing the launchof Honda's HF118 turbofan engine in the light business jet market. The newcompany will begin operating near the end of this year in Cincinnati.The definitive agreement creating the joint company wassigned yesterday by David Calhoun, president and chief executive officer of GETransportation, and Takeo Fukui, president and CEO of Honda Motor Co., at theNational Business Aviation Association conference here. The two companies hadannounced a strategic alliance last February.The 50/50 joint company is owned by GE Transportation,the world's largest manufacturer of jet engines, and Honda Aero Inc, awholly-owned Honda subsidiary established to manage Honda's aviation enginebusiness. GE Transportation's aircraft engine business is headquartered inCincinnati. The company will work closely with GE and Honda Aero in Reston, Va., officials said.Ohio Gov. Bob Taft welcomed the news of the new plant."The decision to lead the GE Honda Aero Engines project here builds uponour rich aviation history," he said. "The strong presence GE andHonda have in Ohio, coupled withtoday's announcement shows the faith that these two elite companies have inthis state's aerospace industry and its workers." GE Honda Aero Engines is fully engaged in discussionswith airframe manufacturers as potential launch customers, development of thetechnology roadmap for engine certification, and establishment of amanufacturing infrastructure, officials said. The company's first product, theHF118 engine, will enter service in the 1,600-pound thrust class. GE Honda AeroEngines will be responsible for commercial turbofan engines ranging in thrustfrom 1,000 to 3,500 pounds."Honda has spent several years carefully developingthe HF118 engine," said Calhoun. "Meanwhile, GE in recent years hasbeen engaged in jet engine development activities unprecedented in our history,including the creation of a family of new engines for regional jets. Thisallows GE to bring innovative design and materials technologies to GE HondaAero Engines." "We are now one step closer to our dream of enteringthe aviation business," Fukuiadded. "The relationship between GE and Honda has progressed quickly and smoothlybecause of strong mutual trust and the fact that we are both very confidentthat this new company will be very successful. This connection has made it aunique and natural fit to merge our mutual strengths."The emergence of small, less expensive business jets(seating four to eight passengers), combined with a growing demand for moreflexible business and personal travel, create considerable opportunity for ahighly reliable and durable jet engine to power them. Honda and GE officialsenvision a future market of approximately 200 or more of these business jetsannually. Small business jet applications include owner operators andfractional owners, as well as potential "air taxi" operations. The"air taxi" business involves micro jets flying passengers on shortstops using the vast number of small airports not serviced by major airlines. Gary Leonard of GE Transportation - Aircraft Engines andAtsukuni Waragai of Honda Aero will jointly lead the new company. The presidentwill be a GE executive through the engine's first year in service. Then, aHonda leader assumes the president role for a three-year period, with theexecutive vice president from GE.The HF118 has run more than 2,400 hours in ground testsand more than 450 hours in flight tests to demonstrate its reliability, longmaintenance interval, and superb fuel economy, officials said. Visit Honda: http://world.honda.comVisit GE: www.ge.com"