FARNBOROUGH, England -- China's Juneyao Airlines today announced that is has selected CFM International's CFM56-5B engine to power five new Airbus A321 aircraft. The engine order is valued at more than $100 million U.S. at list price and the airline is scheduled to begin taking delivery in 2013.
"We are very happy with the high reliability the CFM56-5B engines have been providing to our entire fleet," said Zhao Hongliang, president of Juneyao Airlines. "We also enjoyed a very good relationship with CFM and the outstanding support they provide to us."
Juneyao Airlines began operations in September 2006 and has been one of the fastest growing local airlines in China. Based in Shanghai, Juneyao provides passenger, cargo, and mail service, in addition to business and tourist charter business. The airline currently operates a fleet of 26 CFM56-5B-pwered A320 family aircraft.
"We are honored that Juneyao Airlines has selected CFM56-5B engines for its newly added A321 fleet," said Jean-Paul Ebanga, president and CEO of CFM International. "We are also excited to bring the benefits of CFM56-5B PIP technology to their fleet."
All of Juneyao's A321 aircraft will be powered by the CFM56-5B Performance Improvement Package engine, which has been the production configuration since October 2011. The PIP improvements, which provide a 0.5% improvement in fuel burn, include hardware changes to the core, including new high-pressure turbine blade, as well as manufacturing changes to the fan and compressor blades and vanes to improveperformance retention. The engine also features fewer parts to help lower maintenance cost.
The CFM56-5B PIP engine maintains the same noise signature as the previous production model and also meets current International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Committee of Aviation Environmental Protection standards (CAEP /6) requirements.
CFM56-5B engines are a product of CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between Snecma (Safran group) and GE. CFM, the world's leading supplier of commercial aircraft engines, has delivered more than 23,500 engines to date. The CFM56-5B engine powers every model of the Airbus A320 family and has been chosen to power nearly 60 percent of all A320 aircraft in service or on order.