GE Honda Aero Engines, though it has yet to announce an airframe application for its engine, continues to develop its HF118 1,700-pound-thrust turbofan. The company validated durability and performance enhancements on rig tests held in March at Honda’s facility in Japan.

Honeywell announced that its developmental TFE731-50 turbofan engine completed its first flight, aboard a Dassault Falcon 20 test aircraft flown from Phoenix. Designed to deliver up to 5,000 pounds of takeoff thrust, the TFE731-50 is a derivative of the current TFE731-60 engine selected to power the Dassault Falcon 900DX.

Anticipating demand for 500 to 600 engines per year for the owner-flown VLJ market alone, Pratt & Whitney Canada has designed a new moving production line for assembly of its 900- to 3,000-pound-thrust PW600 engine series. P&WC has three applications due to enter service by 2008–the Eclipse 500 (2006), the Citation Mustang (2006) and the Embraer VLJ (2008).