Etihad Airways orders CFM LEAP engine for its A321neo

By BA Staff

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, announced that it has selected CFM International’s advanced LEAP-1A engine to power 26 Airbus A321neo scheduled to begin delivery in 2018. The order is valued at $2.8 billion U.S. at list price, including a long-term services agreement.

To support the new fleet, Etihad has signed a 15-year Rate per Flight Hour (RPFH) agreement, under the terms of which CFM will guarantee maintenance costs on a dollar per engine flight hour basis.

James Hogan, president and chief executive officer of Etihad Airways said:

“Etihad Airways prides itself on operating modern, state-of-the-art and highly efficient aircraft, with the Airbus A320 family at the heart of our narrow-body fleet. Through the introduction of the brand new Airbus A320neo family aircraft, we will benefit from even lower fuel consumption and environmental impact on short-haul and medium-haul flights. Much of these operational improvements will derive from the advanced LEAP-1A engine, which has been meeting all performance targets.”

Jean-Paul Ebanga, president and CEO of CFM International said:

"We are happy to welcome Etihad as a CFM customer. In just 10 years, this airline has built a reputation for excellence in every facet of its business, and we are honored to become part of this team"

Gaël Meheust, vice president of sales for CFM International said:

“We are obviously excited that Etihad chose to power its new A320neo fleet with the LEAP engine. We think this engine is going to be the best we’ve ever built and Etihad will realize the benefits from day one – lower fuel burn, lower noise and emissions, all with CFM’s legendary reliability and low cost of ownership."

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CFM commences A320neo LEAP-1A engine certification with test run

by BA Staff

In a major milestone for the Airbus A320neo (new engine option) family jetliners, CFM International, kicked off its engine certification programme for its LEAP-1A turbofan engine which will power the new aircraft.

CFM LEAP-1A turbofan for A320neo on the GE test rig. Photo courtesy Airbus S.A.S.

The engine conglomerate conducted the first run of the engine at GE’s Peebles, Ohio outdoor test facility. The engine performed as expected and reached full take-off thrust, during these initial evaluations.

CFM's LEAP-1A along with Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower PW1100G-JM Geared Turbofan are the two new engine options being offered for the new variant of the A320 narrow body family. Boeing offers the 737 MAX as competition.

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PurePower 1100G-JM engine for A320neo conducts first flight

The Pratt & Whitney (PW) PurePower PW1100G-JM engine meant for use on the upcoming Airbus A320neo successfully completed its first flight May 15, launching the engine family’s flight test program.

Ironically, the engine which is meant for an Airbus aircraft flew on a Boeing aircraft. Pratt & Whitney’s 747SP flying test bed at the company’s Mirabel Aerospace Centre, in Mirabel, Quebec, Canada.

The engine was ground tested for 365 hours before being cleared for the first flight. Three additional engines are undergoing rigorous ground testing.

The PW1100G-JM engine is planned to be certified by the third quarter of 2014 with entry into service (EIS) planned for the fourth quarter of 2015.

The PurePower GTF (Geared Turbo Fan) engine family uses an advanced gear system allowing the engine’s fan to operate at a different speed than the low-pressure compressor and turbine to reduce fuel consumption and noise.

Even in these early stages, testing has yielded an optimisation in the engine fan’s configuration. Airbus and PW agreed to simplify the propulsion system by removing the Variable Area Fan Nozzle (VAFN) from the A320neo nacelle after the fan blade demonstrated better performance across the flight spectrum.

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It is official - Airbus confirms A320neo. IndiGo rumoured to be early or launch customer

It is official Airbus has decided to offer the neo (new engine option) for its single aisle A320 Family aircraft. Airlines have the choice between CFM International’s LEAP-X engine and Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower PW1100G geared turbo-fan engine. As indicated in our earlier report, this leaves current engine provider International Aero Engines out in the cold.

A320neo with CFMI LeapX engine

The new aircraft known as the A320neo will also also incorporate fuel-saving large blended wing tips called Sharklets. Airbus will start deliveries of the A320neo Family in spring 2016.

One of the customers rumoured as launch customers is India's low fare carrier IndiGo. The carrier has an ongoing 100 A320 aircraft order and is expected to release an order for another 150 aircraft (rumoured to be a mix of A320 and A330 aircraft) soon. Indian carriers notably the erstwhile Indian Airlines were early adopters of both the A300 and the A320.

A320neo with Pratt and Whitney PurePower PW1100G geared turbo-fan engine

The A320neo will deliver a significant fuel savings of up to 15 percent and additionally, reduced engine noise, lower operating costs and up to 500nm (950 km) more range or two tonnes more payload.

Today’s A320neo announcement follows the approval given by the Board of Directors of EADS, Airbus’ shareholder company.

The new engine option will be offered on the A321, A320 and A319 models which will require limited modifications, primarily to the wing and pylon areas. The A320neo will have over 95 percent airframe commonality with the existing standard A320 Family. Airbus sees a market potential of 4,000 A320neo Family aircraft over the next 15 years.

During his visit to India in October, Tom Enders, Airbus President and CEO, was optimistic that the board of EADS would approve the A320neo. The main concern was the allocation of engineering resources needed for the A320neo while at the same time securing the engineering skills required on other Airbus aircraft programmes, most importantly the A350XWB. The decision today only confirms what was already more or less confirmed earlier.

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John Leahy reveals Airbus A320 NEO (new engine option) plans

At the recently concluded EADS Global Investor Forum 2010, John Leahy the chief operating officer for Airbus S.A.S. the commercial airframe manufacturer owned by the consortium revealed plans on its proposed New Engine Option (NEO) for its ultra-popular A320 family of aircraft.

In this slide, Mr. Leahy unveils an artistic impression of the re-engined single-aisle narrow body airliner and outlines a targeted efficiency gain in fuel burn of up to 15% over the current generation of A320s. This is in addition to the new Sharklets which Airbus is scheduled to introduce in 2012 which are expected to deliver 3.5% improvement in fuel burn and also improved aircraft performance and noise levels.

The NEO will use high bypass ratio engines with ratios increasing from the current five to between nine and twelve. To achieve this fan diameters will increase from around 64 inches (1.626m) to 81 inches (2.057m). Due to taller under-carriage this is an option the A320 can consider, but its competitor the Boeing 737NG with its much lower wing height will find difficult to do.

On the slide one observes the logos of engine manufacturers CFM International (a consortium of GE Aviation and Snecma currently offering the CFM56 engines), and Pratt & Whitney are displayed.

The logo noticeably missing, is that of International Aero Engines (IAE) (a consortium of Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, MTU Aero Engines and Japanese Aero Engines Corporation currently offering the V2500 engines).

In India, A320s of Air India and GoAir are powered by CFM engines while those of IndiGo and Kingfisher are powered by the V2500.

During his presentation, Leahy does sound very optimistic about the Airbus board going ahead with the NEO plan. A similar optimism was sounded by Tom Enders, the CEO during his recent visit to India.

The overall presentation on Airbus commercial aircraft does make very interesting reading and shows the competitive position that Airbus enjoys against arch-rival Boeing.

Some interesting analyses are on page 6 (Airbus lags Boeing on the units of aircraft orders but leads Boeing on the revenue value of orders), on page 7 (lags Boeing in the single aisle segment but leads in all others), slides 8~11 document the financial situation with airlines across the world.

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