LEAP-1B engine

General Electric’s GE Aviation unit is reportedly considering plans to build a second ceramics-based components manufacturing facility to meet the increasing demand for its newest commercial jet engines.

The facility will produce ceramic matrix composites, which are used in making engine components.

GE Aviation commercial engine operations vice-president Bill Fitzgerald was quoted by Bloomberg as saying: "We’re building out our capability.

"We’re going to build an additional factory because we think we’re going to need that capacity and we want to be well ahead of it."

The latest move comes less than a year after the company began work on a new advanced composites facility near Asheville in North Carolina.

"We’re going to build an additional factory because we think we’re going to need that capacity and we want to be well ahead of it."

The North Carolina plant, which will have a workforce of 340, is said to be the first facility to produce ceramic matrix composites.

GE Aviation spokesman Rick Kennedy was quoted by the news agency as saying that the second facility will be in similar size to the Asheville plant.

Fitzgerald said that advanced materials play a key role in GE’s plan to boost fuel efficiency of its Leap engine by around 15%.

Ceramic matrix composites are claimed to offer improved performance in high temperatures compared with traditional materials such as metal, he added.

Planned to enter service in 2016, the Leap engine will be equipped on various aircraft variants, including Boeing 737 Max, Airbus A320neo.

The Leap engine is being developed by CFM International, a joint venture of GE and Safran.

GE and its engine units to date have a backlog of over 14,000 units.

Image: LEAP-1B engine will power Boeing 737 Max, Airbus A320neo. Photo: courtesy of Snecma.

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