GE Aviation’s 100th anniversary year wouldn’t have been complete without a stop at the company’s biggest partner in the commercial aircraft engine business, Safran Aircraft Engines.
Throughout the past year, groups of GE Aviation employees who don’t normally visit customers during their normal workday were selected to attend special anniversary trips to see, firsthand, how the company’s products resonate in the field.
At the Safran facility in Villaroche, France, LEAP engines were lined up along production queues for final touches. Once a final wrench turn indicated the engine was ready for quality inspection, robots verified whether the world’s fastest-selling commercial jet engine was ready to be transported for aircraft installation.
While GE’s Aviation unit marked in 2019 100 years since a GE-made turbosupercharger launched the company, the CFM International joint venture isn’t quite half as old. However, the 50-50 company has sold more turbofans than any other civil jet engine manufacturer in history, including GE and Safran individually.
As CFM itself celebrated the 45th anniversary of the partnership in 2019, its ubiquitous CFM56 product line reached 1 billion flight hours powering travelers across the globe. The LEAP engine, the company’s newest product, has garnered approximately 19,000 orders and commitments to date from more than 100 airlines and leasing companies around the world.
“Extraordinary Together” signs greeted the GE Aviation group upon its arrival to Safran’s Villaroche production plant.