Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Bombardier manufactures a variety of business aircraft models, provides engineering, and aircraft maintenance services.

Kerry Lynch

Entering service in late 2018 on the Bombardier Global 7500, GE Aerospace’s 19,000-pound-thrust Passport engine is prepping for its next iteration on the ultra-long-range aircraft’s speedier successor, the Global 8000. That update will help enable a boost in speed and range for the Global 8000 to Mach 0.94 and 8,000 nm, up from the 7500’s Mach 0.925 and 7,700-nm range.
Jennifer Ratica, president of Passport and CFE for GE Aerospace, noted that the update does not involve “turbo-machinery” changes but rather software alterations. However, she said those changes “are going to unlock some potential that we had already designed into our engine.”
According to Ratica,&nbsp;GE Aerospace is working with Bombardier on the final engine designation. As for the performance enhancements, she said, “We’re really excited to see the ability that it will allow in increased thrust. It will improve our [specific fuel consumption], which will enable the aircraft to go 8,000 nautical miles.”
While Ratica did not specify final numbers, she noted that “as with all GE engine programs, we build in additional thrust capability, and [the] engine’s specific fuel consumption has continued to exceed our expectations since entry into service.”&nbsp;The aircraft has already passed the supersonic mark in testing, which was necessary for a certified speed of Mach 0.94.
The potential for the enhanced performance was already built into the Passport design and had the margins to meet the objectives on speed and range, Ratica said, noting that the changes entail a “plug” for the software. “From an engine perspective, the changes are minor,” she said, pointing out that the Global 8000 program will involve a few other upgrades unrelated to the engine.
However, the software changes will require certification, Ratica said, and GE has teamed with Bombardier on that work.&nbsp;“We’re in lockstep,” she noted. “We meet with them every week to talk about certification. We’ve got a few gates associated with the software that we're working through.”&nbsp;The Global 8000 is on target to enter service in 2025.
While this is ongoing, GE Aerospace has been maturing the Passport engine. “After six years of service, it really feels like the Passport engine is catching its stride and demonstrating in the market,” Ratica said. “We've got more than 350 Passport engines that are in service today supporting about 160-plus aircraft flying, with 300,000 hours flown over about 100 operators. So we feel like we are moving out of that entry-into-service phase and into this more mature space or life cycle, so to speak, of this engine.”
The engine has marked a 99.9% dispatch availability, but she added that on the rare occasion something has gone wrong, the field support team has been right on top of it. Ratica noted that its team just attended its latest Global advisory committee meeting in April “and feedback from operators is amazing—very positive around the engine's performance, reliability, and any product support associated with it.”
A key to the smooth service entry is that GE Aerospace leveraged the core architecture of the CFM Leap engine, which has some 30 million flight hours of experience, she said. “Coming from that as a solid core gives us a good starting point,” Ratica said. “We’ve had minor blips here and there [such as] with sensors that were a little bit too sensitive that we had to redesign and that type of thing. But overall, really no major issues for this engine.”
Particularly satisfying to Ratica, this ramp-up has been ongoing during the pandemic. Bombardier, meanwhile, has been steadily increasing Global production as it targets the delivery of 150 aircraft across its lines next year. The Montreal-headquartered airframer said the planned increases will lean towards Globals next year. In preparation, Ratica said GE has upped Passport production by 20% last year and expects “the same type of increases going forward.”
This includes working through supply-chain issues that continue to arise throughout the industry with geopolitical situations such as that in Eastern Europe, since Russia has been a big supplier of titanium.
“We're turning the corner; I feel really positive about where we're headed,” she said.
The twin-spool axial engine is designed with a 5.6:1 bypass ratio and a 45:1 overall pressure ratio at max power. Incorporating GE’s 18-blade titanium blisk technology at the front and a high-efficiency tail mix at the back. “We put all of that together to allow for the most efficient architecture,” Ratica said.
The results make the engine a leader in energy extraction, fuel efficiency, emissions, and noise, according to Ratica. The Passport's fuel efficiency is 3% better than others in its class, GE said.
Its blisk technology “is really exciting,” she added. “We’ve got one piece there that increases the airflow with a smaller diameter, which minimizes the leakage, the wear, the vibration, and maintenance.”
GE further provides a fully integrated propulsion system, including the nacelle, which she said optimizes the complete system. While a little more complex on the company’s end, the integrated system is a direction Ratica sees airframers headed in the future and one that helps with durability, reliability, and ease of maintenance.
On the sustainability front, GE Aerospace said the engine has a 13.6 dB cumulative noise margin from Stage 4 requirements. Ratica added that it has been tested on 100% sustainable aviation fuel “with great results.”
As far as the future of the Passport family beyond the Global 7500 and 8000, she said, “I think there’s still going to be some margin after we get through.”&nbsp;While used at nearly 19,000 pounds of thrust, the engine can grow to 22,000 pounds or be downrated to 16,000 pounds while maintaining the core, she said.
“It was designed to be able to create different variants, assuming that the industry goes that way and maybe an airframer wants a little bit bigger or a little bit smaller,’’ she said.
While not discussing specific applications, Ratica said, “There are always discussions around new opportunities within business aviation, for sure.”
She added: “But if you look at the entire business aviation spectrum, I think probably a little smaller is going to be the next opportunity,” she said, noting that this could be something akin to the size of a Bombardier Challenger 650.

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