GE makes high jump with hybrid-electric powerplant

GE Aerospace is the first engine manufacturer to operate a hybrid-electric propulsion system at high altitude. Working with NASA, Beta Technologies and Boeing, the engine maker successfully flew the hybrid-electric engine above 30,000 feet on May 20 for more than two hours, a GE Aerospace spokesperson told Cargo Facts . [caption id="attachment_57298465" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Unit 340B-399 carried out demo flights at the Farnborough International Airshow 2026. (Photo/Cargo Facts)[/caption] The hybrid-electric powerplant was installed on a 1996-vintage Saab 340B (340B-399) operated by Legend Airways. The aircraft flew out of Plattsburgh, N.Y. (PBS). Unit 340B-399 was displayed at the Farnborough International Airshow last week and performed demonstration flights. GE’s hybrid-electric engine is a fully integrated megawatt-class and multi-kilovolt propulsion system developed through the NASA Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) project, according to a July 20 release. “This hybrid-electric system improved the high-altitude performance and climb capability while creating a flying laboratory to inform all future hybrid designs,” Beta Technologies Founder and Chief Executive Kyle Clark said in the release. This development is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project, Steve Forness, managing director of aircraft engineering consultancy Air Flight Technical, told Cargo Facts . DARPA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense that supports the development of high-risk, high-reward technology projects for military and national security. “The time for this technology to reach a production engine will be at least five to ten years,” Forness said. “As far as the MRO side is concerned, the hybrid-electric engine will add significant new technologies that will take money and time to develop.” GE will continue to advance a suite of future-flight technologies while maturing its hybrid electric engine technologies through the CFM RISE program, the GE spokesperson said. RISE is the sustainable engines program launched in 2021 by CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines, to support the development of aircraft engine technology. The engine maker was first awarded the NASA EPFD contract in 2021 to demonstrate flight readiness of hybrid-electric technologies for single-aisle aircraft. Since completing ground tests of its electric motor-driven propeller in 2016, GE has: Completed the world’s first test of a megawatt-class and multi-kilovolt hybrid electric propulsion system in altitude as high as 45,000 feet in 2022 at the NASA Electric Aircraft Testbed facility that simulated single-aisle commercial flight; Completed demonstrations of a narrowbody hybrid-electric configuration with power transfer and injection in a modified high-bypass turbofan engine — with no energy storage required — through the NASA HyTEC project in 2025; and Completed ground tests of the megawatt-class hybrid-electric propulsion system developed through NASA’s EPFD program this year. GE invested $300 million into Beta in 2025 after collaborating with the all-electric aircraft manufacturer to develop a new hybrid-electric turbogenerator for advanced air mobility programs. Cargo Facts Symposium 2026, the premier event for the freighter aircraft and air cargo industries, will take place in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 21-23. Find out more and register by Sept. 4 to take advantage of early-bird pricing.

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