First Engines Powered KC-135s, Were Retrofitted On DC-8 Super
70s
CFM International's CFM56 fleet has become the first high
bypass turbofan family in history to achieve 500 million engine
flight hours in service as the company celebrates its 36
anniversary.
The first CFM56 engines entered service in 1982 powering
re-engined DC-8 Super 70 aircraft and USAF KC-135 tankers. The
engine provided a quantum leap to this industry segment in terms of
fuel burn, noise and emissions levels. These early applications
were followed by a succession of new aircraft applications,
including the Boeing 737 Classic, the Airbus A320 and A340
families, and the Boeing 737NG.
CFM International was formed as a 50/50 joint company between
Snecma (Safran group) and GE on September 24, 1974. In 2008, the
two parent companies extended the partnership agreement to the year
2040. Through August 2010, CFM has received firm orders for a total
of 26,500 engines.
Since the CFM56 first entered service in 1982, CFM International
has delivered more than 21,000 engines to 500-plus operators around
the globe. The fleet is logging one million flight hours every
eight days and, at any given moment, there are more than 2,400
CFM56-powered aircraft in the air.
CFM56 Engine
One of the distinguishing features of the CFM56 product line is
its unrivaled reliability, which has served as the industry
benchmark for more than 20 years. The average time on wing for
current production CFM56 engines before a first shop visit is
approximately 30,000 hours with the fleet records at 44000 hours.
That equates to driving a car the distance to the moon and back 30
times without ever putting it in the garage for service. Or driving
the same car for 1,000 years--the time it would take to log 15
million miles and circle the earth 367 times--with nothing more
than oil changes and new spark plugs.
"From the beginning, the CFM model has been to meet all of its
commitments, to continually invest in the product line, and to
provide world-class customer and product support," said Eric
Bachelet, president and CEO of CFM International (CFM). "It is a
model that has enabled the CFM56 product line to become the
industry benchmark for reliability and low cost of ownership, and
it is the same model we are using for the future as we continue to
expand the current CFM56 fleet and develop the LEAP-X engine for
future generations of single-aisle aircraft."