CFM Aims To Reach 20 Shops Offering Leap MRO Support

Aeroengine joint venture CFM International is looking to grow its Leap support presence to 20 shops, including adding further Leap Open MRO Network partnerships beyond the five companies that have already signed up.

CFM already has a well-established support network for the CFM56 and the engine manufacturer is planning to replicate this for the Leap.

“We project 20 shops to support MRO activities for the Leap. And, among those shops, there will be a big portion of third-party players,” CFM International executive vice president Jérôme Morhet told media at a pre-Paris Air Show briefing.

Five companies - Air France-KLM, Delta TechOps, Lufthansa Technik, Standard Aero, ST Engineering – have already signed CFM Branded Service Agreements (CBSAs), four of which were inked within the past 12 months. “We're still looking for more. We need to keep expanding our external network,” Morhet said.

CFM also has non-CBSA agreements with MTU Zhuhai, SR Technics, TAP Maintenance & Engineering and SSAMC, which are licenced LEAP providers, plus six LEAP shops within its own CFM, Safran and GE network. “We're not only working on expanding the external network, we keep also investing internally,” he said.

In 2022, Safran announced plans to set up a new MRO shop in India to support local customers. A further 8,500 square meter shop is being constructed in Brussels and will be operational in 2024, and a blade repair facility is being developed in France. Meanwhile, GE is growing its support footprint in Brazil and in Malaysia.

“In the long term, our Leap MRO network will offer an open MRO model, similar to the CFM56, which is a balance between internal and external shops,” Morhet said.

However, amid the Leap support ramp-up, CFM will continue to support its older engines. The CFM56 program has delivered 34,000 engines and accrued more than 1.2 billion flying hours to date, with a reliability rate of 99.98%. 

“The CFM56 represents 60% of the flown hours in the narrowbody segment,” Morhet said. “With a fleet with an average age of 11.5 years ago, 45% of the CFM56 engines are yet to complete their first shop visit. So it may be that the peak of shop visits for the CFM56 will happen in the coming years.”

Morhet reiterated CFM’s commitment to the CFM56, adding: “CFM plans to keep delivering spare parts up to 2040 at least.”