Cincinnati Enquirer

GE Aircraft Engines and partner Pratt & Whitney have won an additional order of more than $1.5 billion to supply engines for 23 Airbus A380 jetliners ordered by Emirates, the Dubai-based airline.

The two engine makers, who have teamed to build new engines for the 550-seat A380, last year won an order also valued at $1.5 billion to supply engines to Emirates' for 22 A380s. GE and Pratt are jointly developing the GP7200 engine for the A380.

GEAE expects to build the engine cores at its plant in Durham, N.C., with final assembly at a Pratt plant in Connecticut.

Taft announces economic director

Gov. Bob Taft on Monday announced named Chris Smith as his regional economic development representative for the Cincinnati area.

Smith will direct economic development efforts and establish an agenda for continued growth in the Southwestern Economic Development Region, which includes Hamilton, Butler, Warren and Clermont counties.

Smith, who was vice president of development services for the Clermont Chamber of Commerce, will start Wednesday.

Fifth Third on philanthropy list

Fifth Third Bancorp ranked fourth last year as the nation's most philanthropic company based on revenue, according to a new ranking by BusinessWeek.

Fifth Third, the Cincinnati-based regional banking giant that typically is one of the nation's most profitable banks, provided $26.5 million in grants and support to groups in its eight-state region in 2002, BusinessWeek said in its first annual ranking of America's most philanthropic companies in the Dec. 1 issue.

Fifth Third's contributions showed that the bank gave 0.42 percent of its revenue in gifts.