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Are you telling me airlines have to order and directly buy the engines themselves? Surely not?
by apexalpha 7y ago
Are you telling me airlines have to order and directly buy the engines themselves? Surely not?
- Xixi 7y agoWhy wouldn't they? Engines are by far the most expensive and critical parts of an airliner. So airlines issue RFPs to engine makers to extract the best possible price/conditions. The result of these RFPs is usually a matter of public announcement, see for instance the choice of CFM (a joint venture between GE and Safran) to power IndiGo A320NEO: https://www.ft.com/content/d1c20f9e-9119-11e9-aea1-2b1d33ac3271 https://www.ft.com/content/d1c20f9e-9119-11e9-aea1-2b1d33ac3.... The contract is signed directly between the airline and the engine maker. Of course the engines are installed by the OEM (Boeing, Airbus, etc.), as otherwise delivering the plane would be problematic to say the least... EDIT: another, more relevant example: Norwegian ordered 19 Boeing 787-9 in October 2015, and selected Rolls-Royce to power them in February 2016 (https://atwonline.com/engines/norwegian-selects-rolls-royce-engines-787s https://atwonline.com/engines/norwegian-selects-rolls-royce-...)
- kayfox 7y agoThe engines need to be overhauled and sometimes replaced several times over an aircraft's lifetime, so they are often swapped out and overhauled and then installed on another aircraft. Not only that, but some injection of new engines into the pool is needed. So airlines sign big contracts with engine manufacturers for new engines, parts, supplies, training, etc. This also happens even with small single engine airplanes, those engines need overhauls every so many thousand hours, so one option is to trade in your old engine for a refurbished one instead of overhauling and keeping the same engine. For some larger fleets companies have contracts with engineer manufacturers or service centers for this.