3 engines to power 12 firm, 12 option Boeing 737-400 aircraft.
The CFM56-3 is produced by CFM International, a 50/50 joint company of Snecma (Safran Group) of France and General Electric of the United States.
The airline, which already operates a fleet of more than 20 737-400s, is scheduled to take delivery of the firm aircraft between June 1997 and mid-1999.
"Alaska Airlines has been a long-time CFM56-3 customer," said Jim Raphael, director of North American Airline Sales for CFM International. "And we are gratified that the airline has the confidence to expand its fleet with our products."
The CFM56-3 engine has logged more than 55 million flight hours in service on the Boeing 737-300/-400/-500 series while setting the industry standards for reliability. The engine has a dispatch reliability rate of 99.98, which translates to less than one engine-caused delay or cancellation per 3,300 departures.