Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer of GE Aerospace, Ge Aerospace
Search every verified John Slattery interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. John Slattery, then President and CEO of GE Aviation, participated in a June 2021 Aviation StraightTalk Live interview where he discussed the company's RISE (Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines) program, a CFM International initiative. Slattery stated the program would examine over 300 technologies to develop an engine entering service in the mid-2030s, targeting a 20% fuel burn reduction, which he said would be the largest single jump in fuel burn reduction GE Aviation had undertaken. He described the engine as a hybrid electric open-fan design capable of burning up to 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) or hydrogen, noting that SAF could reduce CO2 by 80% and green hydrogen by 100%. Slattery added that policymakers and governments would need to collaborate to make hydrogen and SAF viable. In the same interview, Slattery noted that GE Aviation's backlog was over a quarter of a trillion dollars, largely driven by its services business. He said the company had taken "serious and very painful actions" to reduce its workforce during the pandemic while remaining prepared for a recovery. Slattery welcomed competition from Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney, stating that competition would benefit customers and the planet. He described the industry as being at "a point of inflection" and said it needed to "win the right to continue to grow" by reducing CO2 emissions. In April 2024, GE Aerospace Chairman and CEO Larry Culp discussed the company's transformation, including debt reduction and operational improvements, but Slattery was not a participant in that appearance.
“With the launch of the RISE program that we announced last week in Paris, RISE — Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines — is a development program where we'll look at over 300 different technologies that will develop and eventually manifest into an engine that will enter into service sometime in the mid-2030s...”
“The fuel burn target by the way is 20 — it is the biggest single jump in fuel burn reduction that we've ever undertaken at GE Aviation (and of course with Safran because the RISE program is a CFM International initiative).”
“If you were to apply that 20% fuel burn improvement onto our narrowbody fleet today, that would be the equivalent of taking 17 million cars off the road.”
“With RISE we're going to have an engine that'll be a hybrid electric open‑fan but it will have the capability to burn up to 100% sustainable aviation fuel and will have the capability to burn hydrogen; using SAF you can reduce CO2 by 80% and burning green hydrogen could reduce CO2 by 100%.”
“We're going to need policymakers and governments to come together — the whole ecosystem needs to come together for hydrogen to make it viable, but also for sustainable aviation fuels; that's clearly the first step to meaningfully reduce our carbon emissions.”
“A huge part of our backlog, which is over a quarter of a trillion dollars today at GE Aviation, is our services business — so we are literally tied into serving our customers in many instances for decades to come.”
“We did take out a serious and very painful actions to take out a serious percentage of our workforce, but we did that very mindful of the need to be ready for the inevitable surge when it materializes.”
“We welcome competition — I would encourage Rolls‑Royce and Pratt & Whitney to bring their best technologies to the table and let's compete, because ultimately our customers will be the winners and the planet will be a winner.”
“We are at a point of inflection for our industry — we need to win the right to continue to grow, and that's going to be rooted in our commitment to drive down CO2 emissions.”
GE Aerospace chairman and CEO Larry Culp and GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik join 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss the company's transformation, the completion of the GE Vernova spinoff, the future of energy, growth outlook, and more.
How can we build back better European aviation after COVID-19 – and what will our industry look like in five years? The environment, changing markets, new consumer behaviours and expectations, all will be explored in a series of live 1-2-1 interviews with industry leaders. Andrew Charlton, journalist and Aviation Advocacy MD, will be asking the tough questions, and all sessions will include a short market update by Eamonn Brennan, EUROCONTROL DG.
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