Last GE eCore Demonstrator Running
GE's CF34 program manager Alan Paxson believes the company's proposed NG34 turbofan may yet get an application, despite losing out to Pratt & Whitney's Geared Turbofan in the bid to power the next generation of Embraer's EJets. [Photo: Gregory Polek]
GE's CF34 program manager Alan Paxson believes the company's proposed NG34 turbofan may yet get an application, despite losing out to Pratt & Whitney's Geared Turbofan in the bid to power the next generation of Embraer's EJets. [Photo: Gregory Polek]

GE Aviation began running its third and final eCore demonstrator last month in preparation for application on the Passport business jet engine and the new CFM Leap family, as well as a potential basis for the still orphaned NG34 turbofan development. The third eCore has now progressed roughly halfway through its planned test run, while, together all three demonstrators have run some 300 hours, a GE spokesperson told AIN at the RAA Convention in Montreal today. Schedules call for first commercial application—on the CFM Leap—by the middle of next year.