A key component in Nexcelle’s engine nacelle on the GE Passport powerplant for business jet aircraft will be produced at the new GE Ellisville Composites factory in Ellisville, Mississippi, which was formally inaugurated this week.

The single-piece 360-deg. composite bonded component manufactured at Ellisville fits inside the Passport powerplant’s air inlet, directing airflow into the engine.

“Production facilities are ramping up to produce the next generation of integrated propulsion systems, including the Passport engine,” said Nexcelle President Huntley Myrie. “GE Aviation’s start-up of manufacturing at the Ellisville factory is an example of how our parent companies are investing in the future.”

The 344,000-square-foot GE Ellisville Composites facility is expected to employ 250 persons by 2017, and will begin delivering its manufactured components for the GE Passport and CFM International LEAP engines beginning later this year.

Nexcelle was created in 2008, and has been selected to supply the nacelle systems for two major engine programs: the GE Passport engine for Bombardier’s Global 7000 and Global 8000 business aircraft; and CFM International’s LEAP-1C integrated propulsion system on the COMAC C919 airliner.