FARNBOROUGH July 17, 2006 Imagine flying to the moon and back every day. How about flying to the moon and back 45 times a day, every day? That's how many miles you would have to fly to equal the experience of the CFM International's CFM56 fleet.
CFM International is a 50/50 joint company between Snecma (Safran Group) and General Electric Company and the world's leading manufacturer of jet engines for commercial and military transport aircraft.
There are currently more than 15,800 CFM56 engines in service powering more than 6,335 aircraft with 450 operators worldwide. These engines have achieved more than 325 million flight hours and 190 million flight cycles and will reach 400 million hours by early 2008. Overall, this fleet is logging one million flight hours every 10 days as the most reliable engines in the air.
Since the first CFM56 engines entered service in 1982, the company has continually invested in technology and product improvements to deliver outstanding benefits to its customers. For example, fleet-wide time on wing has improved 132 percent since 1990. The CFM56-3 averaged 18,000 hours before the first shop visit. The CFM56-5B and CFM56-7B high time engines logged more than 28,000 and 30,000 hours, respectively, before their initial shop visits. More than 80 percent of the CFM56-5B and CFM56-7B engines in service are still on wing without a single removal.
The CFM fleet-wide in-flight shutdown (IFSD) rate has decreased by 65 percent. The CFM56-5B and CFM56-7B are so reliable that, statistically, the average pilot will never experience an IFSD event in his/her entire career. How can this be? Both engines maintain an IFSD rate 0.003 or better, which translates to one IFSD every 333,333 engine flight hours. Assuming the pilot logs 900 flight hours annually, that equates to one event every 185 years.
The CFM56 product line includes six engine models spanning the thrust range from 18,500 to 34,000 pounds (82 to 151 kN) thrust. Commercial applications include the CFM56-5-powered Airbus A318, A318 Elite, A319, A320, and A321 single-aisle aircraft and the A319 Corporate Jet and the long-range, four-engine A340-200 and -300 powered by CFM56-5C engines; the Boeing Classic 737-300/-400/-500 family, powered by CFM56-3 engines and the CFM56-7B-powered Next-Generation 737-600/-700/-800/-900/-900ER and Boeing Business Jet.