Delta to Buy Jet Engines from GE, Rolls Royce

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. said it chose General Electric Co. and Rolls-Royce to provide engines valued at more than $500 million for some of the more than 600 aircraft it agreed to buy from Seattle-based Boeing Co. in the next 20 years. GE will make engines for 31 Boeing 767s Delta ordered. Derby, England-based Rolls-Royce will provide engines for 10 Boeing 777s that the carrier took options to buy, if those become firm orders. The choices are a blow to Hartford, Conn.-based United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney unit, which has been a longtime supplier to Delta. The sale is key for GE because the last time Delta bought 767s, it chose Pratt & Whitney engines, even though older 767s were GE-powered. Many analysts expected Delta to choose Pratt & Whitney again.