It's engines that drive big aircraft orders

[PARIS] Behind the eye-popping aircraft deals - Boeing received over a US$100 billion in orders at the recent Dubai air show - it is in large part the engine makers who are driving the mega sales, say experts.

They may not be as well-known as Boeing or Airbus, but the major engine manufacturers - US companies General Electric and Pratt and Whitney, Britain's Rolls-Royce and France's Safran - account for major part of the aviation market.

Engines account for about a quarter of the total cost of an aircraft, according to Richard Aboulafia at the aerospace and defence consultancy Teal Group.