GE Aviation (Booth No. N5500) is aiming to grow its Business and General Aviation (and Integrated Systems) business to $1 billion in revenues by 2020 from the $300 million level it is at in 2013. This is already significantly up from the $150 million it turned over in 2008.

Brad Mottier, vice president and general manager of the unit, said that has been the goal he has headed for since 2008. The challenge, he believes, is to right-size products from the larger GE Aviation into engine technology for business aircraft “that the market can afford.” To that end, Mottier announced key progress and milestones in four GE engine programs aimed at the business aviation market: the H75/85 series turboprop and the HF120 turbofan; the CF34 turbofan; and the new Passport engine for large-cabin jets.

At NBAA 2013 yesterday, GE announced that its H80 engine had been selected to power the new Nextant Aerospace G90XT, a remanufactured C90 Beechcraft King Air. The engine has a service life of 3,600 flight-hours or 6,600 cycles between overhauls, has a standard auto-start and limiting unit to simplify engine start-up, and has a choice of propeller governors for flexible propeller selection.

A single power lever feature will allow the pilot to adjust both engine power and propeller speed. GE is developing the electronic engine control for the engine with Unison Industries and is making its H80 supplemental type certificate for the C90 engine upgrade available to Nextant, which expects certification and first deliveries of the $2.2 million aircraft by the end of next year.

GE turboprops have been selected for the Caiga Primus 150, Aircraft Industries L410, Airtec L410, Thrush 510G crop duster and Smyrna Power 90 King Air.

Meanwhile GE is expanding its service centers for the CF34 engines. More than 1,800 CF34s are currently flying on Bombardier Challengers and have amassed 8 million flight hours. The new service centers are in China; Staeco in Jinan and Metrojet in Hong Kong. They join GE’s authorized worldwide network of 50 service centers for the engine.

GE has finished certification testing on its HF120 GE Honda Aero engine that will power the HondaJet and expects FAA approval by the end of the year. During testing the HF120 completed 12,000 engine cycles and 8,400 engine test hours.

Work continues on the Passport engine GE is developing for the Bombardier Global 7000 and 8000. The engine has completed 131 test hours and 220 starts and has been run up to 19,200 pounds of thrust, considerably higher than the 16,500 pounds required for the aircraft. The engine will begin flying on GE’s Boeing 747 test bed next year and is expected to be certified in 2015.

GE has also further developed its aircraft trend monitoring and power distribution businesses, providing both capabilities on the new Gulfstream G650, for example. GE’s integrated vehicle health management (IVHM) powers Gulfstream’s PlaneConnect health and trend monitoring system and automatically reports high-level anomalies while the aircraft is in flight or on the ground back to Gulfstream in real time. The GE power distribution system on the G650 eliminates miles or wiring and 400 mechanical circuit breakers, according to GE.