Engines
Leap Success Means Busy Times for Safran
All of the Leap engine’s parts are doubled-source to avoid a break in the supply chain.

Innovation will be the keyword for French giant Safran this week at the Paris Air show. Its new CEO, Philippe Petitcolin, appointed in May, announced some of the latest steps taken by the company during a press conference on the Thursday before the show.

As of late last week, the Leap-1A engine, one of two powerplant options for the Airbus A320neo, had already flown 19 times in three weeks, on average of five hours each time. Safran indicated that it’s engine is benefitting from the problems of the competing A320neo engine from Pratt & Whitney, the PurePower PW1100G-JM, which has not been able to fly in two weeks due to undisclosed issues. As a result, “Airbus has more time to give to our aircraft that sometimes can fly twice a day,” Petitcolin said at Safran’s headquarters here in Paris.

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