Snecma’s Philippe Petitcolin is enjoying his first Le Bourget show as chairman and CEO of the French engine builder.
Appointed last December from a similar position at Labinal, like Snecma, part of the Safran Group, Petitcolin spoke to Flight Daily News just before the Paris airshow and said the company would produce some interesting progress reports on some of Snecma’s major engine projects.
“I was very honoured to be named head of a company as prestigious as Snecma,” says the new Chairman and CEO. “I have every confidence in the people of Snecma.
“We will work together to lay solid foundations for the future of the company, by drawing on their top-flight expertise, and by developing our technologies, products and customer services, while also enhancing financial performance.”
Aspirations
Petitcolin, 54, holds a master’s degree in mathematics, as well as a degree in business administration. He is not backward in coming forward when he talks about his aspirations for Snecma.
“I think future replacements for the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 families of narrow-body aircraft will be talked about seriously in Paris, starting with the sort of aircraft that the airframers are proposing. Will it be a basic airliner, similar – but more advanced – to what we have now, or perhaps something far more sophisticated like Boeing’s stillborn Sonic Cruiser?
“It’s important that we – the engine builders - know what they’re contemplating because the type of engine that emerges will be very different depending on the configuration of the airframe.
“I don’t see Snecma building a new large engine on its own though. Our joint venture with GE (CFM) is very important for us and I’m confident that the future is not with a geared fan solution – but with whatever we and GE decide to build through CFM.”
Asked whether there are any companies that Snecma would like to acquire in the future, Petitcolin says:“It would be good to consolidate by forging a closer relationship with Avio first and if this fails, secondly with MTU, although it has strong ties to Pratt & Whitney, which could prove difficult.”
Snecma currently works closely with Avio on a variety of engine projects including the Silvercrest 11,000lb thrust business jet engine, and the SaM146 engine that it is jointly producing with Russia’s NPO Saturn for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 RJ.
Source: Flight Daily News
