EVENDALE, OHIO - Following a detailed review, the GE-P&W Engine Alliance has been formally approved by the European Commission (EC). The GE-P&W Engine Alliance, formed in 1996 as a joint company between GE Aircraft Engines and Pratt & Whitney, is designing a new engine family to power future, four-engine passenger aircraft of Airbus Industrie and The Boeing Company. The favorable EC action removes any regulatory uncertainty surrounding the Engine Alliance's ability to offer its GP7000 engine for Airbus Industrie's proposed A3XX aircraft. In 1996, a comparable review of the GE-P&W Engine Alliance by U.S. federal regulators was also concluded favorably for the joint venture. The GE-P&W Engine Alliance will conduct its first testing of a GP7000 core rig in October 1999, with the first complete engine testing in July 2002. Plans call for certification of the engine at 75,000 pounds of thrust by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the Joint Aviation Authorities of the European Economic Community in November 2003. Under the terms of the Alliance agreement, Pratt & Whitney is responsible for the design and fabrication of the fan, low pressure compressor, low pressure turbine and gear train, and GE Aircraft Engines is responsible for the engine core, which consists of the high pressure compressor, high pressure turbine, and combustor.