The GE9X is the engine for the Boeing 777X, and it holds the record for the most thrust produced by a commercial jet engine: 134,300 pounds-force (lbf), about 597 kilonewtons. GE says the run happened on 10 November 2017 at its outdoor test facility in Peebles, Ohio, and that Guinness World Records recognised it on 12 July 2019. The engine it beat was the GE90-115B, which had held the record at 127,900 lbf since 2002.

What the record actually is

It is a test-stand number. GE describes the run as a ground-based engineering test, not a flight, and the Guinness category is for test performance. GE's then chief executive of its aviation business, David Joyce, said the company did not set out to break the record and was proud of how the engine performed. The GE90-115B record had also come out of an engine stress test rather than a deliberate attempt.

The gap between the two records is about 15 years, from 2002 to 2017. Some write-ups say 17; GE's own dates give 15.

What it produces in service

An engine is not flown at its record. The GE9X is certified for a take-off rating of roughly 105,000 lbf. Guinness and FlightGlobal both give 105,000; Wikipedia gives 110,000 for the highest-rated variant, so the sources disagree and I have used the lower figure that two of them share. The FAA issued the type certificate in September 2020.

The GE90-115B is rated at about 115,000 lbf, or 115,300 depending on the source. That makes the older engine the more powerful of the two at take-off, even though the newer one holds the record. The GE9X has the bigger fan, 134 inches across, and GE built it to be more efficient rather than more powerful. Guinness quotes the manufacturer as claiming 10 per cent better fuel efficiency than the GE90-115B.

Where you will see the older engine

GE describes the GE90-115B as the exclusive engine for the Boeing 777-300ER. On 27 September 2026 an All Nippon Airways 777-300ER, registration JA787A, crossed my radar at 9,000 feet. The screen showed it flying Tokyo Haneda to London Heathrow as flight ANA211. Every 777-300ER carries two of those engines, so each one is a pair of GE90-115Bs.

And the 777X?

The GE9X first flew on a 777X in January 2020. As of early November 2026 the 777-9 has not entered airline service. Trade reports put certification and the first deliveries in 2027, after several delays, and I have not found an official date I can quote. When it does arrive, it will do so with an engine that holds a record it will probably never be asked to repeat.

The photographs

I have no picture of the record run itself. The three photographs are of GE9X engines on N779XW, the first 777-9, at the roll-out in Everett, Washington on 13 March 2019, by Dan Nevill, licensed CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. They show the engine, not the test stand. The radar clip is the ANA 777-300ER described above, not a GE9X.

Sources

  • GE Aerospace, "GE9X breaks Guinness World Records title for thrust", 12 July 2019: https://www.geaerospace.com/news/press-releases/commercial-engines/ge9x-breaks-guinness-world-recordstm-title-thrust
  • GE, "It's official: Guinness World Records certifies GE9X as the world's most powerful jet engine": https://www.ge.com/news/reports/its-official-guinness-world-records-certifies-ge9x-as-the-worlds-most-powerful-jet-engine
  • GE Aerospace, GE9X engine page: https://www.geaerospace.com/commercial/engines/ge9x
  • Guinness World Records, GE9X entry (take-off thrust 105,000 lbf, GE90-115B 115,300 lbf): https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/564276-largest-jet-engine
  • FlightGlobal, "FAA certificates 777X's GE9X powerplants", 28 September 2020: https://www.flightglobal.com/engines/faa-certificates-777xs-ge9x-powerplants/140344.article
  • Wikipedia, "General Electric GE9X" and "General Electric GE90": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_GE9X
  • Aviation Week and Leeham News coverage of the 777-9 certification timeline, 2026
  • Photographs: Dan Nevill (File:777X Roll-Out (46457914075).jpg, File:777X Roll-Out (46649681164).jpg, File:777X Roll-Out (40407364223).jpg), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons