AerCap Holdings, the Irish lessor has confirmed the purchase of 150 new CFM LEAP spare engines valued at approximately $3 billion at list prices. The engines will be used as spares for its growing fleet of Airbus A320neo-family jets and Boeing 737 Max aircraft.
The engines will be managed by SES, Shannon Engine Support – a 50/50 joint-venture company between Safran and AerCap.
The additional engines will deliver in line with the growing fleet of in-service Boeing 737MAX and Airbus A320neo Family aircraft.
AerCap predicted that tightness in global jet markets would last through the rest of the decade, fuelled by supply chain issues and conservatism on production among engine makers, Reuters reports.
“I believe it will take until the end of the decade before the airframers and the supply chain get together and work it out; that will be 2030, I suspect,” CEO Aengus Kelly said during the company investor event. “The scarcest asset in the industry is an engine, and we have more of those than anyone else,” Kelly added.
The problem with Pratt & Whitney engines had forced many operators over the world to ground their fleet awaiting repair slots. The repair slots are already fast-filling and comparatively less given the travel demand, supply chain issues and geopolitical pressures.
AerCap says more is spent on maintaining a plane in MRO or repair stations than it costs to buy it in the first place.
Also Read – Airbus takeovers Aerovel with its UAS Flexrotor
“The MRO shops are like dentists. They only get paid when they open something up, take something out and put something back in. The difference with these engines is it’s a million bucks to put something back in every single time,” Kelly added.
