Qatar Airways and CFM International have signed an agreement for installed and spare LEAP-1B engines to power the airline’s new fleet of 25 firm 737-10 aircraft announced on 21 July, along with a services agreement that covers the entire fleet.
The national airline of the state of Qatar has been a CFM customer since 2015 and currently operates eight CFM56-powered aircraft.
“We look forward to providing (Qatar) the industry’s most advanced engine with the highest standards for reliability, asset utilization, and fuel efficiency, backed by our world-class support network,” said Gaël Méheust, President and CEO, CFM International.
“We are honored to expand our relationship with Qatar Airways and look forward to providing them the industry’s most advanced engine with the highest standards for reliability, asset utilization, and fuel efficiency, backed by our world-class support network,” he added.
Since entering service, the LEAP-1B engine has accumulated five million engine flight hours and 1.9 million flight cycles.
The advanced CFM LEAP engine continues to set new industry standards for fuel efficiency asset utilization, and sustainable operations. The fleet has logged 20 million engine flight hours in commercial operation and is providing customers with 15 to 20 percent better fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emissions, as well as a significant improvement in noise compared to previous generation engines. Since its entry into service in 2016, the LEAP engine allowed our customers to save more than 14 million tons of CO2.
A multiple award-winning airline, Qatar Airways was announced as the ‘Airline of the Year’ at the 2021 World Airline Awards, managed by the international air transport rating organization, Skytrax. It was also named ‘World’s Best Business Class’, ‘World’s Best Business Class Airline Lounge’, ‘World’s Best Business Class Airline Seat’, ‘World’s Best Business Class Onboard Catering’ and ‘Best Airline in the Middle East’. The airline continues to stand alone at the top of the industry having won the main prize for an unprecedented sixth time (2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021).
Hamad International Airport (HIA), the airline’s home and hub, was also announced as the ‘World’s Best Airport’ in the Skytrax 2021 and 2022 World Airport Awards. HIA has been steadily rising in the ‘World’s Best Airports’ rankings since the start of its operations in 2014.
