Ryanair Signs New Engine Material Services Agreement with Safran’s CFM

CFM and Ryanair have signed a new engine material services agreement that involves opening two more engine MRO shops to support B737 engines.

The contract covers legacy and future CFM56-7B and LEAP-1B engines used in B737 MAX and NG aircraft.

The multi-billion-dollar agreement lasts for multiple years, and Ryanair aims to open the new engine MROs in 2029, covering its nearly 2,000 B737 engines.

As part of the agreement, Ryanair plans to purchase all engine spare parts from CFM directly, supporting its growing fleet of 800 Boeing 737 aircraft, and take over maintenance when the two new MRO shops open.

Ryanair’s Group CEO, Michael O’Leary, said, “We are pleased to extend our long-term partnership with CFM with this multi-year, multi-billion-dollar spares support agreement.”

“For the last 30 years, CFM has been maintaining all of Ryanair’s CFM56 engines under a long-term power-by-the-hour contract. However, from 2029 onwards, Ryanair expects to bring the maintenance of its engines “in-house”, and we are pleased to do so with the help and support of our partners CFM,” added O’Leary.

O’Leary continued, “Ryanair will place substantial orders for initial spare parts provisioning with CFM to support the opening of each of these 2 Ryanair engine maintenance facilities. When Ryanair takes over all its engine maintenance in-house, we expect this contract will be worth in excess of $1bn annually to CFM in spare engines and spare parts supplies.”

“This new spare parts agreement extends our 30 year partnership with CFM, and we look forward to working closely with CFM, Safran and GE to support what will be one of the world’s largest commercial aircraft fleets, and one of the world’s largest packages of Boeing 737 engines too,” noted O’Leary.

Olivier Andriès, CEO of Safran, said, “This new major milestone further strengthens the strategic relationship we have built with Ryanair over the past three decades, and we are proud to support their continued growth through this comprehensive MRO services offering.”

Andriès added, “With the ongoing success of the CFM56 and the rapid growth of the LEAP fleet, we are investing to build a global MRO network within an open and competitive ecosystem to help our airline customers optimize fleet efficiency and control operational costs.”

H. Lawrence Culp, Jr., chairman and CEO of GE Aerospace, said: “Ryanair is one of our largest customers, and we value the opportunity to work with them on solutions to increase capacity and reduce turnaround time. This MoU demonstrates our commitment to an open MRO ecosystem that supports growing demand while reducing cost of ownership.”