FARNBOROUGH, England — 14 July 2014 —Okay Airways, China's first private airline, today announced that it has ordered CFM International's LEAP-1B engine to power six Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, in addition to CFM56-7B engines to power four Next-Generation 737s. CFM values the order at $250 million U.S. at list price.
The LEAP-1B, which is the sole powerplant for the Boeing 737 MAX, began ground testing in June 2014 three days ahead of schedule. The engine is part of the most extensive ground and flight test certification program in the company’s history and will encompass 60 engine builds over the next three years and will accumulate approximately 40,000 cycles before entry into service.
Beijing-based Okay has been a CFM customer since is launched passenger service in 2005. Today, the airline operates 12 CFM56-7B-powered Boeing Next-Generation 737-800 aircraft with eight additional aircraft still to be delivered. The airline operates scheduled passenger and cargo service from Tianjin Binhai International Airport.
"We have had a great experience with the CFM56 engines in our fleet today," said Liu Weining, president of Okay Airways. "Both the reliability of the engines and the exceptional support we receive from CFM have become huge assets in our daily operations. We look forward to introducing the new LEAP-1B engine into our fleet."
“We are honored and very pleased to continue our great relationship with Okay Airways, said Jean-Paul Ebanga, president and CEO of CFM International. "We understand the importance of reliability to its operations and are committed to delivering the quality engines and world-class support they have come to expect from CFM."
“Okay Airways has accomplished so much in a relatively short amount of time, " said Chaker Chahrour, vice president and general manager of Global Sales and Marketing for CFM parent company GE Aviation. "As China's first private airline, it really blazed a trail for other Chinese airlines to follow and we are really proud to have been a part of this great success story."
The foundation of the LEAP engine is heavily rooted in advanced aerodynamics, environmental, and materials technology development programs. It will provide 15 percent better fuel consumption and an equivalent reduction in CO2 emissions compared to today’s best CFM engine, along with dramatic reductions in engine noise and emissions. All this technology brings with it CFM’s legendary reliability and low maintenance costs.
About Okay Airways
Okay Airways began scheduled passenger service in March 2005 and serves routes to Changsha, Chengdu, Haikou, Hangzhou, Harbin, Hefei, Kunming, Nanjing and Zhangjiajie. In 2007, the airline also began cargo service and currently serves Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Shenyang, Tianjin, Dalian and Xiamen.
About CFM International
LEAP engines are a product of CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between Snecma (Safran) and GE. CFM is the world's leading supplier of commercial aircraft engines and has delivered more than 26,500 CFM56 engines to date. For more information, visit us at www.cfmaeroengines.com or follow us on Twitter @CFM_engines.