
In the early 1960s, Pratt & Whitney, with a clear head start, had an almost dominant market position in the commercial aircraft engines market while GE lagged behind by a fair margin. However, a GE engineer, Gerhard Neumann, was tired of losing to Pratt, and chose to shake things up and change the status quo effectively. Neumann, along with a team of GE engineers, created the GE1, a revolutionary aircraft engine demonstrator, by mating a huge diameter fan to a relatively much smaller, efficient engine core, which resulted in significant fuel efficiency gains, a key determinant of engine selection by the airlines.
The GE1, subsequently, became the building block for more than a dozen GE commercial & military engines over the subsequent decades and scripted & spearheaded GE's almost legendary comeback and eventual leadership of the commercial aircraft engines market with GE effectively outflanking, outmaneuvering and comprehensively beating Pratt & Whitney at its own game for decades to come, with revolutionary engines like the CF6, which virtually transformed the wide body aircraft market and is still in production after over half a century, and over a dozen other engines, including the legendary F110, which effectively got GE back into the fighter jets game from behind, and the iconic CFM56, which is the undisputed industry gold standard for engine reliability & performance even today. Further, GE's headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio was subsequently renamed to '1 Neumann Way', in his honor.
This is not a book about GE or any other, specific industry player; but rather about similar strategy masterstrokes & tactical brilliance by companies and illuminated minds in commercial aviation, across the aircraft & engine OEMs levels, since the onset of the jet age.
If you are an Aviation enthusiast or professional with a passion for flight and are almost smitten by Strategy; then, this is the flight, you just can't afford to miss…Hop-In!
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