CFM International
| Company type | Joint venture |
|---|---|
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Founded | 1974 |
| Headquarters | Cincinnati, Ohio , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Jean Sollier (inaugural CEO) |
| Products | Aircraft engines (CFM56, LEAP, RISE) |
| Owner | GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines (formerly Snecma) |
| Website | www |
CFM International is a Franco-American aircraft engine producer formed as a joint venture between GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines (formerly known as Snecma), with headquarters located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Established in 1974 to create the CFM56 turbofan engine family, CFM commands a 39% share of the market, positioning it as the leading manufacturer of commercial aircraft engines worldwide. To date, it has supplied upwards of 37,500 engines to more than 570 operators globally. The company’s name CFM is derived from combining GE’s CF engine series and Snecma’s M series designations.
History
Although GE experienced success in its military engine division, its civil aviation segment did not gain momentum until the late 1950s. Meanwhile, from the mid-1960s, Snecma concentrated on advancing civil engine technology with an emphasis on fuel economy and noise reduction to meet the evolving needs of airlines and airframe manufacturers.
The first cooperative effort between GE and Snecma occurred in 1969, alongside German partner MTU, focusing on manufacturing components for GE’s CF6-50 engine used in the Airbus A300. At the same time, Snecma undertook comprehensive research in thermodynamics, aerodynamics, and acoustics to establish the defining characteristics of the M56 engine: low noise emissions, enhanced fuel efficiency, reduced maintenance requirements, and lower operational expenses.
France’s sixth five-year economic plan (1971–1975) aligned national aerospace policies with Snecma’s goals. Acknowledging the difficulties of independently developing a 10-ton thrust civil jet engine—due to limited expertise in areas such as high-pressure turbines, variable stator mechanisms, advanced metallurgy, and global marketing—Snecma sought an international partner.
By 1971, Snecma was actively pursuing collaboration for the CFM56 engine project. With delays affecting Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce initiatives, GE became the only feasible partner. In April 1970, Snecma executives including Chairman Jacques-Edouard Lamy met with Gerhard Neumann, head of GE’s Aircraft Engine Business Group, in Lynn, Massachusetts. Recognizing a strategic opportunity within Europe, Neumann agreed to establish a joint venture with equal ownership.
Creating CFM International
On January 24, 1974, Snecma and General Electric formalized their joint venture agreement to develop the CFM56 engine. Although collaborative activities had already commenced earlier that year, official incorporation was completed in September 1974. The newly formed company was named CFM International, equally owned by Snecma and GE with an initial capital of 400,000 francs. Its mandate was to oversee program management and engine marketing.
Jean Sollier was appointed as CFM's inaugural CEO and led a board consisting of ten members evenly divided between GE and Snecma executives; among them were vice-presidents Neumann and Ravaud. Both companies shared responsibilities for design, development, and manufacturing equally; however, final assembly along with sales and customer support were managed separately by each partner.
The corporate emblem combined Snecma’s red rectangle with GE’s blue circle as a symbol of their partnership. The engine designation—CFM56—reflects this collaboration by merging GE's Commercial Fan (CF) prefix with Snecma’s M56 project title.
Initial trials and certification
The inaugural operation of the CFM56 demonstration engine took place on June 20, 1974, at GE’s Evendale testing facility, where it swiftly achieved full take-off thrust within just ten hours. By November of the same year, testing activities had extended to Snecma’s Villaroche location.
Boeing identified the promise of the CFM56 early on; in 1977, then-president Thornton Wilson suggested outfitting their 707 fleet with this engine. Flight evaluations commenced on March 17, 1977, using a Caravelle test aircraft near Bordeaux, accumulating more than 4,000 hours of combined ground and flight testing by January 1979.
Although development spanned five years, commercial agreements were not secured until March 1979, when United Airlines chose the CFM56 to retrofit their DC-8 freighters. The French government had warned that the program would be discontinued if no commercial application was found by spring 1979.
On November 8, 1979, both France’s DGAC and the US FAA granted simultaneous certification to the CFM56—the first time these authorities jointly approved an engine—thereby authorizing its deployment on commercial aircraft.
The engine’s commercial debut occurred in April 1982 aboard a Delta Airlines DC-8 Super 70 flying between Atlanta and Savannah. Snecma reached a significant milestone in February 1987 with the first flight of the A320 powered by the CFM56-5. Deliveries hit 5,000 units by 1991 and doubled to 10,000 by the Paris Air Show in 1999.
Engines
- CFM International CFM56
- CFM International LEAP
- CFM International RISE (currently under development)
Production
In 2016, CFM delivered a total of 1,665 CFM56 engines alongside 77 LEAP units, securing orders for 2,677 engines valued at US$36 billion based on list prices. The LEAP backlog surpassed 12,200 engines with an estimated worth exceeding US$170 billion.
By 2017, deliveries increased to 1,900 engines, including 459 LEAP models. Projections aimed for output of 1,200 units in 2018, rising to 1,800 in 2019 and surpassing 2,000 in 2020. In that year’s deliveries, CFM supplied 2,127 engines—comprising 1,736 LEAPs and 391 CFM56s—with a target production of around 1,400 engines set for 2020.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic severely affected early-2020 deliveries: LEAP engine shipments declined to 622 from the previous year’s 1,316 units; meanwhile, CFM56 deliveries dropped from 327 to just 123. Fleet utilization cycles for LEAP and CFM engines decreased by approximately 15% and 48%, respectively.
In June 2021, CFM unveiled its RISE initiative with ambitions for entry into service during the mid-2030s.
The future of CFM
In the early part of the 21st century, CFM initiated the LEAP (Leading Edge Aviation Propulsion) program. The first LEAP engine completed ground testing at GE’s Peebles facility in Ohio in September 2013 and subsequently underwent further tests at Snecma’s Villaroche plant. Flight testing for the LEAP-1C variant began on a modified GE Boeing 747-100.
The partnership between GE and Snecma under CFM International was extended through to the year 2050 in 2021 and broadened to encompass service offerings.