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materials  such  as  composite  fan  blades  only powerplant for the Boeing’s 737 MAX, while the LEAP-1C


        and  case,  titanium  aluminide  low-pressure  is the sole Western powerplant for COMAC’s C919 jetliner.
        turbine  blades,  etc  and CFM achieved two  LEAP-1A engines power 5 percent of all A319neos, 27 percent
        important milestones in July, when the in-ser-  of all A320neos and 5 percent of all A321neos for a market
        vice LEAP fleet crossed 1.5 million engine  share of 63 percent for the European built single-aisle jetliner.
        flight hours and 1,000th LEAP engine was  CFM International’s parent companies, GE Aviation and Safran
        delivered. Up to 1,200 LEAP engines are  Aircraft Engines, launched the LEAP-X engine program just over
        planned for delivery this year as compared to  a decade ago and backlog of orders for LEAP has crossed over

        450 last year. The  worldwide  LEAP  engine  15,450 engines.
        fleet  is now logging more than  200,000
        flight  hours  per month and  100,000  flight  MRO Growth

        cycles,  and aircraft  powered  by  the  LEAP          ainline Maintenance Repair & Overhaul (MRO) pro-
        engine  are  operating on an average of ten            viders are also closely observing the performance of
        hours per day, every day.   The number of              the new engines in various operating environments
        LEAP engines in service by 2021 (5 years Mand looking to identify potential engine maintenance
        after entry into service), will surpass the total  opportunities in the future.  MRO firms will seek to benefit from
        number of  CFM56 engines that were deliv-    their tie-ups with their parent companies and will need to con-
        ered in its first 25 years of airline service.  tinue to invest heavily in Research and Development (R&D),
        The LEAP-1A is one of the engine options  if they are to take away a sizeable slice of the engine main-
        for the Airbus A320 new engine option (neo)  tenance pie, away from larger firms. MRO providers are now
        and Virgin America became the launch cus-    also developed  a  range  of  integrated  leasing  and  asset
        tomer in June 2011.  The LEAP-1B as the  management  solutions  as customers  are  increasingly  look-
                                                     ing  for  “one-stop  service  solutions”  that  cover  MRO  and
                                                     comprehensive  related  services    –  both  on  newer  and
                                                     older  engines  –  with  the  goals  of  further  reducing  cost  and
                                                     maximizing  asset  values.  MRO firms will also need to cater
                                                     for the potential disruptive effect of additive manufacturing to
                                                     their industry, as they will reduce the complexity of many parts
                                                     that go on the airplane. As an example, a 3D-printed fuel nozzle
                                                     used to spray fuel inside a LEAP engine was developed by GE
                                                     Aviation and brought into mass production in 2016. This com-
                                                     plex part which is the size of a walnut, was earlier made from
                                                     20 different components but are now printed as a single piece
                                                     using additive manufacturing. Oerlikon and Lufthansa Technik
                                                     are already working together to establish robust and repeatable
                                                     processes for additive manufacturing (AM) in the aircraft MRO
                                                     industry. The partnership of the two companies is an important



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