General Electric is preparing its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) network for what it describes as a "bow-wave" of CF34 service work as the engine fleet rapidly expands and accumulates time on wing.
Total engine flight hours for the CF34-3 have now reached 16.2 million. The -3 engine now powers almost 890 aircraft in service, with the highest-time engine at 24,700h and the highest-utilised engine at 24,280 cycles.
Most of the work is expected to go to four main MRO centres at GE's Strother, Kansas plant; Standard Aero in Winnipeg, Canada; MTU Maintenance at Berlin, Germany; and Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries in Tokyo, Japan.
The -8C1 version powers 128 regional jets in service, and the -8C5 is slowly building up on the Bombardier CRJ900 fleet.
Source: Flight International
