GE Aerospace uses AI to cut aircraft engine turnaround time by five days

GE Aerospace is using artificial intelligence to improve aircraft engine inspections, maintenance and supply-chain forecasting, helping reduce engine turnaround time by around five days, company executives said on Tuesday.

Engineers at GE Aerospace’s John F Welch Technology Centre (JFWTC) in Bengaluru are developing AI-enabled inspection and maintenance technologies aimed at improving engine reliability, durability and time on wing for airlines.

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“AI is a big enabler,” Gurram V Rao, Executive Section Leader, Services Engineering & Engineering Material Systems at the Bengaluru centre, said at a briefing at JFWTC.

Rao said AI-based forecasting was helping the company anticipate parts requirements and reduce the time engines spend at maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities.

Earlier, MRO facilities would assess an engine after it arrived and then place orders for the parts needed for repairs. AI is now helping GE Aerospace forecast those requirements ahead of time.

“We are keeping track of how operators (airlines) are working... and we are able to (place) orders for (parts) before an engine comes to an MRO facility... by the time engine comes in, those parts are ready. That is how we compress the turnaround time,” GE Aerospace in India's Chief Technology Officer Shilpa Gupta said.

The Bengaluru team is advancing Analytics-Based Maintenance (ABM) through the ABM.AI tool, along with aircraft engine health monitoring that combines visual inspection with other data and technologies.

It has also developed the AI-enabled Blade Inspection Tool (BIT), which assists trained technicians in capturing turbine blade images, improves consistency in reviews and cuts inspection times by about 50% for the GEnx engine.

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AI-enabled maintenance and next-generation propulsion

The JFWTC team is also working on next-generation propulsion technologies, including hybrid-electric propulsion, while supporting the deployment of GE Aerospace's 360 Foam Wash process, which removes dust and dirt from engines across MRO shops.

“From improving reliability, durability and time on wing for the fleet flying today to advancing technologies to make the future of flight more efficient, Bengaluru engineers are making an important impact across the engine lifecycle,” Gupta said.

JFWTC, GE Aerospace's Bengaluru technology centre, will complete 26 years in September. The centre's engineers have contributed to the design, development and certification of CFM LEAP, GEnx and GE9X engines powering narrow-body and wide-body commercial aircraft.

The Bengaluru team has also secured more than 1,000 aviation technology patents.

More than 1,300 GE and CFM engines currently power aircraft operated by Indian airlines. Another 3,000-plus engines are on order following IndiGo's recent deal with CFM International for more than 1,000 LEAP-1A engines.

CFM International is a 50:50 joint venture between GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines.