PARIS - Vietnam's VietJetAir and CFM International have signed a 12-year Rate Per Flight Hour agreement to support the airline's fleet 21 Airbus A320ceo aircraft powered by CFM56-5B engines.

Under the terms of the agreement, which is valued at $300 million, CFM will guarantee maintenance costs for a total of 45 CFM56-5B engines on a dollar per engine flight hour basis.

Based in Ho Chi Minh City, VietJetAir has been a CFM customer since it commenced operations in late 2011 with 18 leased CFM56-5B-powered A320 aircraft. Earlier this year, the airline placed an $800 million order to purchase CFM56-5B engines to power 14 additional Airbus A320ceo (current engine option) and 7 A321ceo aircraft. The airline currently operates a fleet of 39 CFM56-5B engines, including one spare.

"With this agreement, we are looking to CFM to help us keep our maintenance costs in check," said Chu Viet Cuong, a member of the Board of Directors of VietJetAir. "They have proven themselves to be a real partner in our operations and will continue to be an asset to support our continued growth."

All of VietJetAir's new engines will be the CFM56-5B Performance Improvement Package (PIP) configuration. The PIP became the new production configuration for the CFM56-5B in 2011. The improvements, which is providing a 0.5 percent improvement in fuel burn, include hardware changes to the core, including new high-pressure turbine blade, as well as manufacturing changes the fan and compressor blades and vanes to improve performance retention. The engine maintains the same noise signature as the current production engine and meets current International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Committee of Aviation Environmental Protection standards (CAEP /6) requirements.

Source: CFM International
Associated URL: cfmaeroengines.com