A MAMMOTH PARTNERSHIP POWERING AVIATION WORLD

In April this year, CFM International surpassed 50,000 CFM LEAP and CFM 56 engines sold to over 600 customers around the world

Since its creation in 1974, CFM international, the 50/50 joint-venture between GE Aviation and Safran Aircraft Engines, has been an important player in the commercial aviation industry. CFM, CFM56, LEAP, RISE and the CFM logo are trademarks of CFM International that have taken the company to be among world’s leading suppliers of commercial aircraft engines. 48 years ago Safran Engines and GE Aviation partnered to create CFM, producing the largest fleet of commercial jet engines with innovation and sustainability in mind. In April this year, CFM International surpassed 50,000 CFM LEAP and CFM 56 engines sold to over 600 customers around the world, accumulating over 1 billion engine flight hours.

45 years ago in 1977, CFM 56 made its first flight, and ten years after that in 1987, it was the first flight of the Airbus A320 powered by the CFM56 engine. Within a few years, the CFM565B became the engine offered on the entire A320 family. CFM has produced and delivered the world’s largest fleet of jet engines in the single-aisle market. To support unprecedented production rate, as CFM parent companies, both GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines have added new manufacturing capability at sites throughout the US and France, making a combined capital investment of more than $1 billion since 2005.

The advanced CFM LEAP engine continues to set new industry standards for fuel efficiency and asset utilisation, accumulating more than 23 million engine flight hours and 10 million cycles in commercial operation. The fleet is providing 15 to 20 per cent better fuel consumption and lower CO2 emissions, as well as a significant improvement in noise compared to previous generation engines. Since its entry into service in 2016, the LEAP engine allowed operators to save more than 15 million tonnes of CO2 and the LEAP engine has surpassed 20 million flight hours while the LEAP-1A engine alone has logged over 12 million flight hours. On its way to engine certification, CFM pushed its LEAP test programme to the limit. To meet the performance and reliability expectations made to its customers, a total of 60 LEAP engines were built to execute the most extensive ground and flight test certification programme in the company’s history. The LEAP-1A, LEAP-1B and LEAP-1C engine models have all been jointly certified by EASA and FAA.

At the Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) this year, GE announced becoming the first to successfully test high power, high voltage hybrid electric aircraft engine components at simulated altitude conditions. The technology GE is advancing “will help make hybrid electric flight a reality for everyday commercial air travel, and it should have a real and necessary impact on the carbon emissions associated with flying”. Specifically, GE and NASA ran a megawatt-class, multi-kilovolt hybrid electric system in conditions simulating altitudes up to 45,000 feet. Single-aisle planes could account for 70 per cent of the world’s rapidly growing commercial aviation fleet in the near future.

The company underlines, with aviation accounting for about 2.5 per cent of global CO2 emissions, hybrid electric propulsion technologies could help bring the number down. Hybrid electric technology is also compatible with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and hydrogen, and with proposed, more efficient engine

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