GE Aviation’s CF6 engine family reaches 50 years of revenue service

Fifty years ago, the CF6 engine thrust GE Aviation into the commercial aviation business when it entered service installed on the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10. Today, GE Aviation is celebrating five decades of revenue service for what has become GE’s most successful widebody commercial aircraft engine program with more than 8,500 CF6 engines delivered to date. By basing the design of the CF6 on the TF39, GE Aviation’s first high bypass turbofan, it brought to the civil aviation market a higher thrust engine option with lower fuel consumption than other existing available powerplants at the time. Over the years, the CF6