A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

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Curt Epstein

The first production Catalyst turboprop engines are currently under construction at GE Aerospace’s production facility in the Czech Republic, the company told AIN this week at NBAA-BACE 2025. GE’s first in this class—a 1,300-shp engine—obtained FAA certification in <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2025-02-27/ge-catalyst-turboprop-engine-gets-faa-nod">February</a>. Meanwhile, Textron Aviation expects to receive FAA certification of its Denali, which will serve as the Catalyst’s launch platform, next year.
“Now we’re transitioning into production readiness, getting the supply chain in place, getting the service infrastructure in place so we can support our customer, Beechcraft Denali,” said Paul Corkery, the Catalyst general manager at GE Aerospace subsidiary Avio Aero.
He noted that the program has amassed more than 3,000 flight hours and 8,500 testing hours overall. “In terms of the performance of the engine, it’s performing great,” said Corkery.
According to GE, the engine’s 16:1 overall pressure ratio enables up to 18% better fuel consumption and up to 10% higher cruise power versus competing engines in the same 1,200- to 1,400-shp class.
“We gave ourselves some very stringent performance targets when we started this program, fuel burn better than 15% or 18%, and then also bring in a fadec, and a fully dual redundant engine and prop controller in here as well,” Corkery explained. “That’s what it’s enabled us to hit these performance numbers.”
To get there, Avio Aero borrowed technology from GE’s larger engine manufacturing divisions. “We talk,” quipped Corkery. “All of this technology we’re bringing from the big engine technology into a smaller package.”
While the Denali will be the first use for the Catalyst, the powerplant has also been tapped for an uncrewed aerial vehicle in Europe. However, Corkery deferred about potential further civil applications.
“Of course, we want this to roll out as far as we can,” he said, adding that his focus right now is solely on the Denali. “Because we’re the new kid on the block in this range, we want to make sure we do it right out of the gate.”

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