In just over three years of revenue service, Aeroflot has achieved and maintained outstanding reliability with its fleet of 10 CFM56-3-powered Boeing 737-400 aircraft.
CFM56 engines are produced by CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between Snecma Moteurs (Safran Group) of France and General Electric of the United States.
The airline took delivery of its first aircraft in May 1998 and had placed all 10 737s into revenue service by mid-1999. To date, this fleet has logged more than 170,000 flight hours and 63,000 flight cycles with 100 percent departure reliability, zero shop visits, zero aborted takeoffs, and zero in-flight shutdowns. This achievement is especially noteworthy given the high utilization rate Aeroflot maintains with this fleet. The airline's 737 aircraft logs an average of 10 flight hours per day serving both domestic and international routes. Aeroflot's fleet leader recently surpassed the 10,000 engine flight hour milestone.
"Aeroflot is to be congratulated on a job extremely well done," said Grard Laviec, president and CEO of CFM International. "We have often said that we build the most reliable engines in the world, but we know that it is our customers that keep them in the air. The Aeroflot line maintenance crew has done a fantastic job with this fleet."
In addition to Aeroflot, other airlines in the C.I.S. operate highly reliable CFM56-powered fleets Air Zena operates two 737-500s powered by the CFM56-3. The airline took delivery of both aircraft, which were previously operated by Hapag Lloyd of Germany, in 2000. These aircraft have accumulated a total of 133,000 hours and 48,000 cycles with these two airlines. Transaero operates two CFM56-7-powered Boeing Next-Generation 737-700 aircraft. This fleet, which has an average utilization of 12 hours per day, has logged more than 56,000 flight hours and 16,000 flight cycles since May 1998.
The CFM56-3, the exclusive powerplant for the Boeing 737-300/-400/-500 series, has long been considered the industry standard for aircraft engine reliability. These engines average more than 16,000 hours on wing before an initial shop visit and more than 10,000 hours post overhaul. The current CFM56-3 fleet leader has logged more than 35,000 hours and 14,000 cycles without a single removal.