FARNBOROUGH, England - In just four and a half years of service, the CFM56-7 engine for the Boeing 737 family has logged 14 million flight hours with reliability associated with a more mature engines.
The CFM56-7 is produced by CFM International (CFM), a 50/50 joint company between Snecma Moteurs of France and General Electric of the United States.
"We are obviously very proud of the CFM56-7," said Pierre Fabre, president and CEO of CFM International. "When we began development work in 1993, we made some significant promises to our customers: better fuel burn, lower maintenance cost, longer time on wing, and improved reliability. This engine has delivered on those promises, and then some."
Through May 2002, more than 2,020 CFM56-7-powered 737s had been ordered, making it the best- and fastest-selling engine/aircraft combination in history. In January, Irelands Ryanair announced a $1 billion firm order for CFM56-7 engines to power 100 Boeing 737-800 aircraft; the airline also took options for another 50 aircraft. Deliveries will begin later this year and extend through 2010.
The first CFM56-7-powered 737-700 was delivered to launch customer Southwest Airlines in December 1997. Today, more than 1,125 aircraft are in service worldwide. The in-service fleet, which includes 737-600/-700/-800/-900 aircraft , has accumulated more than seven million flight cycles. These engines are operating with a 99.96 percent dispatch reliability rate, which translates to only one departure per 2,500 flights being delayed 15 minutes or more or canceled for engine-related issues. The CFM56-7 also has one of the lowest basic in-flight shutdown rates in the industry: 0.002 per 1,000 hours. The rate is equivalent to one engine-caused in-flight shutdown every 500,000 flight hours.
In addition to the commercial 737 applications, the CFM56-7 also powers the Boeing Business Jet. The first military application, the C-40A, was delivered to the U.S. Naval Reserve in April 2001. The aircraft is a modified 737-700 combination passenger and freighter airplane which was designed to replace the Navy's C-9 aircraft. A second military application, the Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) Wedgetail, will enter service with the Australian Defence Force in 2006.