CFM News Release: Sky Airline signs MOU for LEAP-1A RPFH agreement

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  • Agreement includes purchase of spare engines
  • Aircraft deliveries to begin in Q3 2018

WEST CHESTER, Ohio — 20 November 2017 — Chile’s Sky Airline has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a 12-year Rate Per Flight Hour (RFPH) agreement with CFM International to support the LEAP-1A engines that will power the airline’s new fleet of 21 leased Airbus A320neo aircraft. The agreement is valued at about $600 million U.S., including spare engines.

The leased aircraft are scheduled for delivery between 2018 and 2021. Under the terms of the RPFH maintenance agreement, CFM will provide engine maintenance on a dollar per engine flight hour basis.

“One of the main challenges of Sky Airline is to become the best airline for Chile and we know that to achieve this we must strengthen our operation with agreements of this type that enhance our efficiency and safety,” said Sky Airline CEO Holger Paulmann.

“We are pleased to welcome Sky Airline to the LEAP family of operators,” said Gaël Méheust, President and CEO of CFM International. “The airline has distinguished itself in the Latin American market since it began operations in 2001. We believe that the addition of the advanced new LEAP engine will be a tremendous asset and will support Sky’s continued growth.”

The LEAP engine family has had an exceptional entry into commercial service with more than 26 customers currently operating more than 140 aircraft on four continents. Overall, the fleet has logged more than 210,000 flight cycles and 430,000 flight hours while maintaining CFM’s industry-leading reliability and the highest utilization rate in this thrust class.

The LEAP is providing operators a 15 percent improvement in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions compared to today’s best CFM56 engine, along with dramatic reductions in engine noise. All this technology is focused on providing better utilization, including CFM’s legendary reliability out of the box; greater asset availability; enhanced time on wing margins to help keep maintenance costs low; and minimized maintenance actions, all supported by sophisticated analytics that enable CFM to provide tailored, predictive maintenance over the life of the product.