Photo - GE / Philippe Stroppa
CFM International has delivered the first two production engines for Airbus on April 2, two days ahead of schedule. This delivery paves the way for the installation on the first aircraft destined for a customer and put into service during the second half of 2016. the customer name that will receive the first A320neo equipped with CFM engines will be announced later. The final assembly of the engines was completed in unit Snecma (Safran) in Villaroche, France.
"It's a very proud day for us," said Francois Bastin, executive vice president of CFM International. "The team has done an amazing job to keep this program on track. The engine continues to perform exceptionally well in the test flight and we can not wait for our airline customers operate with this engine in their fleets. "
The LEAP-1A first flew the Airbus A320neo on 19 May 2015. The second Airbus A320neo was added to the test program in September last year and in February 2016, LEAP engine was the first one that equipped the new A321neo. To date, three aircraft have logged a combined total of 285 flights and more than 800 hours of flight testing.
The LEAP-1A, which equips the Airbus A319neo, A320neo and A321neo, presents the most advanced technologies of aero engine industry, including a new 3-D fabric made of carbon lining the blades of the front fan; a debris shedding system on takeoff; Twin-Annular combustion chamber which also includes fuel nozzles with a new pulse-sensor technology, the compounds ceramic in the high pressure turbine array and titanium aluminide (Ti-Al) in a low pressure turbine blades .
The engine will provide operators with an improvement in the double digits in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions compared to the current CFM 56-7B engine along the manufacturer managed to drastic reductions in engine noise and exhaust emissions .
