LARNACA, Cyprus April 9, 2005 Eurocypria, CFM International and Boeing are celebrating the airline's 10,000th departure with CFM56-7B-powered Boeing 737-800s. The milestone was achieved in just over two years of service; the airline took delivery of its first airplane in February 2003 and now operates a fleet of four 737s.
CFM56-7B engines are produced by CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between Snecma Moteurs (Safran Group) and General Electric Company. CFM is the world's leading supplier of commercial aircraft engines with more than 14,700 in service with more than 400 operators worldwide.
Eurocypria, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cyprus Airways, began operations as a charter carrier in 1992. Today, Eurocypria provides charter and scheduled service to 50 European destinations in 14 countries. The airline prides itself on exemplary service and punctuality and was named Best Charter Airline for 2004 by Argo Holidays, which presents the award annually, based on customer feedback and staff evaluations.
The CFM56 engines in the airline's fleet have performed extremely well in service, with the fleet maintaining a 99.99 percent departure reliability rate with no operational issues. This high reliability is especially critical to Eurocypria, as it regularly operates these airplanes nearly 18 hours per day during the summer season.
"We're honored that Eurocypria has made CFM such an integral part of its operations," said Pierre Fabre, president and CEO of CFM International.
The CFM56-powered Boeing 737 family is the best-selling aircraft in commercial aviation history. The CFM56-7B brings the industry's most advanced technology to the aircraft, providing low operating costs, high performance, high reliability, low noise and emissions and excellent operability. More than 1,650 aircraft have been delivered to date, and the fleet has accumulated more than 36.5 million flight hours and 19 million flight cycles while maintaining a 99.96 percent dispatch reliability rate. This rate translates to less than one departure per 2,000 flights being delayed 15 minutes or more or canceled for engine-related issues. The CFM56-7 also has one of the lowest in-flight shutdown rates in the industry: .002 per 1,000 hours. The rate is equivalent to one engine-caused in-flight shutdown every 500,000 flight hours.