Airbus, Boeing Supplier Urges Caution on Boosting Single-Aisle Jet Production: CFM executive vice president says engine maker is bound by production limitations

The Wall Street Journal
By Robert Wall and Jon Ostrower


LE BOURGET, France—A key engine supplier to Airbus Group SE and Boeing Co. is urging the two plane makers to move cautiously in boosting output of their most popular single-aisle jetliners, with demand already stretching production capacity.

“There are restrictions to how fast we can ramp up,” said François Bastin, executive vice president at CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Safran SA, ahead of the coming week’s Paris International Air Show.

Airbus and Boeing have seen huge demand for their newest single-aisle planes, which form the backbone of global airline operations. Airbus will this year introduce the A320neo, an updated model of its popular jetliner with engines produced by United Technologies Corp. ’s Pratt & Whitney unit. Next year, it will deliver a version of the plane equipped with CFM engines. Boeing’s 737 Max jetliner is due to enter service powered entirely by the Franco-American joint venture’s engines in 2017.

Both aircraft manufacturers plan to boost single-aisle output further. Boeing is increasing to 47 planes a month in 2017 from 42 currently and Airbus is advancing to 50. Boeing will boost again to 52 in 2018 and both have indicated output may rise again by the end of the decade. Airbus said it may decide this year to lift production.

CFM, which delivered its first Leap-1A engines to Airbus this year, plans to boost output to more than 1,800 engines around 2020. But ramping up production even more aggressively would be a challenge, Mr. Bastin said. “We have stretched ourselves as fast as we can go,” he said.

CFM has amassed orders for more than 8,900 engines across the Airbus and Boeing models, as well as China’s Comac C919. When it hits its planned manufacturing tempo, the joint venture aims to build a new Leap engine at a rate of one every five hours, according to the company’s global manufacturing plan.

Allen Paxson, another executive vice president at CFM, said the company could support higher single-aisle plane output in the near term if that included current versions of the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 powered by engines that have been in production for decades.

To keep pace with its plane-maker customers, the company is modernizing its manufacturing processes at assembly lines in France and the U.S., including the introduction of a so-called pulsed line, on which engines move during the build process at specific time intervals. The joint venture is focusing intently on ensuring that each one of the more than 4,000 unique parts inside each engine comes together smoothly.

Mr. Bastin said the new engine would deliver the fuel-burn performance and other features promised to customers. “It is right on target and it will be right at the performance at entry into service,” he said. The Leap-1A-powered A320neo test plane is now flying as often as twice a day.

Source: http://www.wsj.com