CFM announces $4.3-bn deal to power Pegasus Airbus planes

CFM International, a venture between French aero engine firm Safran and US group General Electric, has won a $4.3-billion contract to power 100 Airbus A320neo airliners ordered by Turkish low-cost airline Pegasus, they said on Tuesday.

The contract, worth 3.18 billion euros, will run at least until 2042, the managing director of Pegasus, Sertac Haybat, said in a statement.

The deliveries of the more fuel-efficient Airbus A320neo and A321neo airliners, ordered in 2012, will be made from 2016 to 2022.

CFM has undertaken to ensure maintenance of the engines for an initial period of 20 years.

Haybat said that the order for new-generation engines completed the airline's order for 100 Airbus aircraft in a deal worth $12 billion.

Airbus, the European aerospace company which competes with the other main maker of airliners, the US group Boeing, offers its A320neo range of aircraft with the option of two types of engine.

One of these is the Leap engine made by CFM International, and the other is the GTF made by US company Pratt and Whitney.

Safran says that the Leap, which is also used to power the Boeing 737MAX, a competitor to the A320neo, and the C919 being developed by Chinese group Comac, accounts for 68 percent of the market for engines on new-generation, medium-range aircraft.

Pegasus Airlines, based in Istanbul, has so far operated Boeing 737 aircraft.

The airline operates routes to 24 destinations in Turkey and to 38 destinations in 26 other countries.

The airline, owned by Esas Holding AS, was created in 1990. It is the second-biggest shareholder in German airline Air Berlin with 12.02 percent of the voting rights.