Five and a half years after Luxembourg freight company Cargolux put the GEnx-powered 747-‑8F into service, it has became the first operator worldwide to fly one million hours with this new engine type and remains GE’s GEnx fleet leader in total operating hours.
With the first delivery of the 747-8F, Cargolux also became the launch customer of the GEnx engine that represented a giant leap forward in propulsion technology, using the latest materials and design processes to reduce weigh and improve performance.
Cargolux notes that they have experienced no basic-engine caused in-flight shutdown of the engine since its entry into service.
“One million flight hours on a new engine type is a tremendous achievement, both for GE and Cargolux,” said Onno Pietersma, Cargolux EVP for maintenance & engineering. “Our confidence in the GEnx has well paid off, even if we had to work around some teething problems with the engine that are perfectly normal for such an innovative design. GE’s support team has been extremely helpful in getting things on track and our 747-8 freighters benefit from the superior performance of this powerplant."
”The GEnx engine has proven itself to be an outstanding engine in terms of technology and performance,” said Tom Levin, general manager for GE’s GEnx engine program. “As the GEnx launch customer, Cargolux has led the fleet and we are proud to celebrate the one million flight hours with them.”
The Cargolux freighters flew record numbers of block hours during 2016 and, as a leading operator of Boeing’s 747-8F, the airline routinely achieves a record-high utilisation of its fleet. Cargolux’s Maintenance Division maintains the fleet schedule reliability on a high level with an average dispatch rate of 97.7% for the 747-8F and 97.5% for the 747-400F in 2016. Thanks in no small part to its advanced GEnx engine, as well as improved aerodynamics and lighter materials, the 747-8 Freighter provides double-digit improvements in fuel consumption and carbon emissions – well below ICAO limits.
