Nacelles component delivered

ELLISVILLE, Miss. -- The Nexcelle joint venture of Safran's Aircelle and GE Aviation's Middle River Aircraft Systems, which is building engine nacelles for the next generation of integrated propulsion systems, marked a first. It shipped its initial major production component, the No. 1 inlet for GE Aviation's Passport business jet engine. It's also the first element to be completed at the new GE Composites factory in Ellisville, near Hattiesburg. The plant was inaugurated earlier this year and is GE's latest production facility. The Nexcelle air inlet was transported from Ellisville to GE Aviation's Peebles Test Operation in Ohio, where it will be integrated with a Passport engine for propulsion system icing testing in Canada. Nexcelle was created 2008, and supplies the nacelle systems for the Passport for Bombardier's Global 7000 and Global 8000 business aircraft and the CFM International LEAP-1C on COMAC's C919 airliner. (Source: Business Wire, 12/11/13) Safran has an engineering operation in Mobile, Ala.; nacelles are also produced by UTC in Foley, Ala.; Rolls-Royce tests airliner engines at its outdoor test stands at Stennis Space Center, Miss.