LE BOURGET June 18, 2007 Indonesian carrier Lion Air today announced that placed firm orders for 40 additional CFM56-7B-powered Boeing 737-900ER aircraft, bringing the airline's total to 100 aircraft. The engine order is valued at $540 million over the life of the product and the airline is scheduled for delivery between 2010 and 2012.
Lion Air, which placed an initial order for 30 aircraft in July 2005, began taking delivery of the new aircraft on April of this year and will have five aircraft in service by year-end.
CFM56-7B engines are produced by CFM International (CFM), a 50/50 joint company between Snecma (Safran Group) and General Electric Company. CFM is the world's leading aircraft engine manufacturer, with more than 17,000 engines delivered to date.
Since its initial launch in 2000 as a one-aircraft airline, Lion Air has become Indonesia's leading domestic carrier and the country's largest privately owned airline. Lion Air provides 160 flights daily to 36 domestic locations, as well as service to Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia, and Singapore. The new longer range, high capacity 737-900ERs are part of Lion Air's fleet modernization and route expansion plans, which will eventually include destinations throughout the Asia Pacific Region. The airline currently operates 12 CFM56-3-powered Boeing 737 Classic aircraft.
All of Lion Air's CFM56-7B engines are the new Tech Insertion configuration, which incorporates advanced technologies developed and validated as part of Project TECH56. The Tech Insertion package, which was certified in June of this year, will provide operators with lower maintenance costs, improved oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions, and better fuel burn. CFM56 Tech Insertion includes improvements to the high-pressure compressor, the combustor, and the high- and low-pressure turbines.