AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), specialists in the transportation of oversized and heavy shipments, has successfully completed transportation validation of the world’s largest jet engine, the GE9x, on Boeing 747-8 Freighter.
The GE9X is a newly developed engine by GE Aviation that powers the Boeing 777X airplane, which first flew in early 2020. The 11,545kg propulsor core of the engine was loaded onto the 747-8 airplane in Chicago together with GE representatives.
The engine arrived at 9:00 am local time for first inspection for on-truck fixation. Both ABC and GE teams strategised on positioning the engine onboard and attaching it with the aircraft’s structures, using 20FT pallets, cranes and other equipment. Moving the GE9X engine from the delivery truck to a pallet took 30 minutes.
Speedy loading
The ABC team managed to load the engine through the side cargo door on board within seven minutes due to arrangements at the early stages of planning. When loaded, all clearances were measured for further processing, including the transportation manual. Offloading the gigantic engine took less than ten minutes.
“It was a great pleasure working with AirBridgeCargo on the 747F transportation validation. Our teams learned much through this process, and the AirBridgeCargo team was highly competent in their efforts. This is a great step forward for the GE9X entry in service readiness effort,” said GE Aviation GE9X Product Support Engineer, Jin Suzuki.
“We are proud to be a part of the GE9x transportation manual development. We appreciate the vote of confidence and look forward to supporting GE further,” deputy general director of AirbridgeCargo, Fedor Novikov added.
AirBridgeCargo has decades of Volga-Dnepr group experience in transporting heavy and oversize cargo ranging from aircraft engines to drilling offshore equipment and satellite systems.
AirBridgeCargo’s fleet consists of 18 Boeing 747 freighters – 12 of the latest generation Boeing 747-8Fs, four Boeing 747-400ERFs and two B747-400Fs.
Learn more about GE Aviation here.