Raising the Bar: CFM’s LEAP Engine is Setting a New Standard for Commercial Aviation
CFM International’s advanced LEAP engine is setting new industry standards for fuel efficiency and asset utilization as the company celebrates the one-year anniversary of its entry into commercial service (CFM International is a 50/50 joint company between GE and Safran Aircraft Engines and the world’s leading supplier of commercial aircraft engines).
The first LEAP-powered commercial flight happened on August 2, 2016 on a Pegasus Airlines flight from Istanbul to Antalya. Since then, more than 75 LEAP-powered aircraft have entered service with a total of 15 operators on four continents. In addition to Pegasus, AirAsia, Air India, Avianca Brazil, Azul, Citilink, easyJet, Frontier, Interjet, Nova Airlines, SAS, SriLankan, Virgin America, Vistara, and WOW air have all taken delivery of at least one LEAP-powered airplane. Overall, this fleet has logged more than 200,000 flight hours and 100,000 flight cycles.
“The LEAP engine entry into service is the most successful in our history and has been exceptional by any measure,” said Gaël Méheust, president and CEO of CFM International. “Our customers are thrilled with the fuel efficiency the engine is providing, as well as the world-class utilization level they are achieving with this very important asset. Aircraft powered by the LEAP engine are flying more than 95 percent of available days. This is simply unprecedented for a new engine.”
The LEAP is providing operators a 15 percent improvement in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions compared to today’s best CFM engine, along with dramatic reductions in engine noise. All this technology is focused on providing better utilization, including CFM’s legendary reliability out of the box; greater asset availability; enhanced time on wing margins to help keep maintenance costs low; and minimized maintenance actions, all supported by sophisticated analytics that enable CFM to provide tailored, predictive maintenance over the life of the product.
Looking for more? Hear from Colleen Athans, GE Aviation’s vice president of global supply chain, as she describes GE and CFM’s process for taking on the LEAP production ramp challenge of 2,000 engines per year by 2020.
