GE Aviation, a unit of General Electric Co. and based in Evendale, blames a slump in travel for a projected 50 percent decline in new jet engine orders this year, a senior GE official told Reuters News Service on Tuesday at an industry meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The slumping economy will likely mean that airlines are going to postpone plane purchases, which will in turn slow engine orders, said Jack Lutze, vice president of sales for Europe and Africa, while attending the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur. "Everybody is looking to push back," Lutze said.

However, GE Aviation still has an order backlog worth years of production, Lutze told Reuters. The Evendale plant conducts final assembly for the CFM56, CF6, LM6000 and LM2500 power plants. Clients include Airbus and Boeing.

By Staff reporter