GE Aviation expects $30 billion of orders at Farnborough Airshow

FARNBOROUGH England (Reuters) - Engine maker GE (GE.N) expects $30 billion (17.53 billion pounds) of orders for itself and joint venture CFM during the Farnborough Airshow and said it was the right decision that the A330neo plane launched by Airbus would be powered only by engines from rival Rolls-Royce (RR.L).

Airbus (AIR.PA) opened the airshow on Monday by announcing plans to launch a revamped version of its A330 mid-range plane.

David Joyce, CEO of GE Aviation, said that GE had plenty of business for the next five to eight years and that supplying engines for the A330neo would not have made sense from a financial viewpoint.

"If it had fit into our portfolio at the right economic value, we would have pursued it harder. But considering everything else, this was the right decision," he told journalists at the airshow, which runs from July 14-20.

Air Lease Corp (AL.N), the launch customer for the A330neo, said it had campaigned for a choice of engines.

"But GE felt that the market wasn't as large for 330neo as a lot of other experts in the industry felt," Air Lease Chairman and Chief Executive Steven Udvar-Hazy said at the show.

Airbus sales chief John Leahy said there was potential market demand for 2,600 of the A330neo with operators that are currently flying with the A330.

GE's Joyce also said his company would treat any possible revamp of the A380 superjumbo in a similar way.

"If we're going to do an A380neo have to make sure our costs can be recovered. We'll have the suite of technologies, we just have to make the business case for it."

Still, Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier said the company wasn't going to launch an A380neo any time soon, although customers such as Emirates have said they would be interested.

"We are listening to all our customers including Emirates," Bregier said. "There is a trend is towards re-engining, but the A380 has stabilised and is a cash maker."

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)