LONDON, England – Shannon Engine Support (SES) today announced that it is expanding its extensive spare engine portfolio with the addition of a mix of 29 LEAP-1A/-1B engines, scheduled to begin delivery in 2016. The order is valued at more than $375 million U.S. at list price.
SES is the largest lessor of CFM56 and LEAP spare engines in the world. The company currently manages the CFM56 engine lease pool for the product support organization and will provide the same support for the LEAP engine family. Both CFM56 and LEAP engines are products of CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between Snecma (Safran) and GE.
“We very excited about this purchase,” said Julie Dickerson, managing director of Shannon Engine Support. “Over our 25 year history, we have become the CFM56 spare engine lessor of choice for airlines and MRO providers alike. Adding the LEAP engine to our portfolio is a big step in implementing our long-term strategy to offer a comprehensive spare engine offering across the entire CFM56 and LEAP engine operator base. We have made some major investments in the last two years and we look forward to our customers reaping the benefits.”
Dickerson, who was appointed the new managing director in February of this year, notes that many airlines are increasingly reluctant to carry excess spare engine capacity, due in no small part to the industry-leading reliability of the CFM56 product line. As a result, the company is complimenting its traditional lease offerings for the maturing CFM56-5B and -7B fleets with comprehensive, fully customized spare engine management programs.
“SES is well positioned to meet the needs of this changing market,” said Dickerson. “We have the advantage of a highly experienced staff coupled with a global presence. As a result, we can act very quickly to give operators and MROs flexible solutions designed for their unique requirements. We continually evaluate and expand the scale of our offerings to enable us to provide our customers with turnkey solutions for their spare engine planning.”
SES was formed in 1988 as a joint venture between CFM and Guinness Peat Aviation to support the growing CFM56 engine fleet. Today, SES manages more than 250 CFM56 engines, including the CFM56-3, -5A, and -5C engines, in addition to the newest CFM56-5B PIP and CFM56-7BE configurations.
Visit us on the Web at http://www.ses.ie/.