The CFM56-5 engines that power the Airbus Industrie A319/A320/A321 family of aircraft continue to provide airline customers worldwide with the highest levels of reliability and maintainability, and the lowest overall cost of ownership in the industry.
CFM56-5 engines are produced by CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between Snecma (Safran Group) of France and General Electric of the United States.
The CFM56-5A and -5B have been the launching engines on each A320 aircraft model currently in service. These engines have been selected to power more than 1,150 of the nearly 1,940 A320 family aircraft ordered to date. CFM also has the largest A320 operator base and counts among its customers Air Canada, Air France, Alitalia, All Nippon, Austrian, Iberia, Lufthansa, Northwest, Sabena, Swissair, and US Airways. These airlines have in service or on order the largest A320 fleets in the industry.
One of the primary factors behind the CFM56-5's broad-based market acceptance has been its simple, rugged architecture, which gives it the highest reliability, durability, and repairability in its class. In addition, CFM continually invests in technology enhancements that make the engines even better.
The CFM56-5 maintains a dispatch reliability rate of 99.96 percent (about one departure per 2,500 delayed or canceled for engine-related issues); an in-flight shutdown rate of .001 (one event per one million flight hours); and a shop visit rate of .059 (one engine-caused shop visit per 17,000 flight hours).
In addition, CFM56-5 engines are averaging 14,000 hours on wing prior to initial shop visit, and more than 10,000 hours after overhaul; no other engine in this thrust class can match this record. The CFM56-5 also has the advantage in global cost of ownership, which is determined by such factors as shop visit rate, life-limited parts, in-flight shutdown rate, delays and cancellations, and fuel burn.
The CFM56-5-powered A320 fleet currently in service has logged more than 15.5 million engine flight hours and 10 million cycles. The first A320 entered service powered by the CFM56-5A engine in 1988. In 1994, CFM expanded the thrust range from 22,000 to 33,000 pounds (97 to 147 kN) thrust with the introduction of the CFM56-5B. The company certified the advanced technology CFM56-5B/P, which is now the standard -5B configuration, in 1996 to provide operators with significant improvements in fuel consumption, engine reliability and durability. CFM also developed its advanced double annular combustor (DAC) for the Airbus A320 family. The DAC, which entered service with Swissair in 1995 and Austrian in 1996 and was most recently selected by Sabena Belgian Airlines, Edelweiss, and Finnair for their A320s, dramatically reduces NOx (oxides of nitrogen) emissions. CFM56 DAC emissions levels are approximately 50 percent below current requirements.