Geoff Thomas/DUBAI
Well within the next decade more than 50% of the world's commercial fleet of airliners will be powered by various versions of the ubiquitous CFM56.
Speaking at the show, CFM's president and CEO Gerard Laviec said: "It's a remarkable achievement especially when you consider that the jointly-owned company (50:50 between GE and Snecma) only got off the ground in 1974 and the first engine wasn't operational until 1982.
"Since then we've sold 10,000 engines and this year we'll make 1,040 - well in excess of our competitors."
To celebrate CFM's 15-year relationship with the French air force - the engines power its 14 C135FR air-to-air refuelling tankers-a specially-painted aircraft is appearing each day in the display at Dubai 2000. Its paint job includes special scale cut-away illustrations of CFM56s on each nacelle.
Source: Flight Daily News