The LEAP engine: 10 years on

• More than 385 aircraft in service
• Surpassed 1.5 million engine flight hours

FARNBOROUGH — 14 July 2018 — On July 13, 2008, CFM International’s parent companies, GE Aviation and Safran Aircraft Engines, made history by launching the advanced LEAP-X engine program. Ten years later, this engine is delivering everything that was promised that day and more.

“That was a great day for CFM and a bold move for GE and Safran Aircraft Engines,” said Gaël Méheust, president and CEO of CFM International. “That day, they committed to a multi-billion-dollar engine development program that, at the time, did not have an airplane application. But the parent companies were so confident in the joint venture and its future that they also renewed the partnership agreement to the year 2040.”

The first engine application didn’t come until about 18 months later, when COMAC chose the LEAP engine to be the sole Western powerplant for its new 150-passenger C919 in December 2009. A year later, Airbus chose the LEAP engine as an option for its A320 new engine option aircraft. In November 2011, Boeing made the LEAP engine the sole powerplant for its new 737 MAX program. All the while, CFM maintained a rigorous development schedule, ticking off milestones on schedule, if not ahead of schedule. In fact, all three engine models were certified within one year.

“The LEAP development program has been absolutely unprecedented,” Meheust continued. “Over the course of five years, we were developing three engines simultaneously and the team did a phenomenal job keeping it all on schedule. In fact, we actually ran the first full LEAP engine in 2013, two days ahead of the target date we had set back in 2008.

“At the end of the day, we have designed an engine that has met every one of our commitments and we are incredibly proud of this accomplishment. But even more important than that, our customers love this engine; that is the true measure of our success.”