Safran hopes to announce the first order for its electric taxiing system at the Farnborough Airshow. The system was launched in 2011 in partnership with Honeywell to equip the Boeing 737, but Safran has been developing it independently since 2015.
"We are working with Airbus to equip the A320 family; we are ready to propose it to the customers and I hope [to make] an announcement with a first airline at Farnborough," said Safran CEO Philippe Petitcolin at a pre-Farnborough French aeronautical press association meeting.
The system's new name is "e-taxiing" instead of "green taxiing." It is embedded in the landing gear and can roll the airplane on the taxiway using electric propulsion. Safran said e-taxiing could offer a fuel saving of 4 percent at a cost of less than $1 million per aircraft. "It allows a return-on-investment between three to four years," said Petitcolin. Retrofit is an option, and Safran is targeting entry-into-service in 2021 or 2022.
This year, Safran aims to produce approximately 1,100 Leap and 1,000 CFM56 engines, in partnership with GE Aviation. Petitcolin said, "2018 is the first year we will produce more Leaps than CFM56s." CFM56 production will decrease by hundreds in 2019 and run until 2020 or 2021, depending on orders, while Leap production will increase from 1,100 this year to 1,800 in 2019 and 2,000 in 2020.
Despite rapid growth in orders, Safran is still facing problems with the Leap supply chain, which shares 80 percent commonality with the CFM 56’s supply chain. At the beginning of June, there were delays of five to six weeks during the ramp-up planning. In accelerating the delivery tempo, Safran hopes to catch up by the third quarter of 2018. The goal is to deliver a dozen Leap 1A engines per week to Airbus and 14 Leap 1Bs to Boeing, which means four to six more engines than are being delivered now. The Leap family has logged more than 14,500 orders, said Petitcolin. Regarding the plan by Airbus to increase the monthly rate of the A320 to 70, Petitcolin commented, "I would prefer to be sure about the robustness of our supply chain before envisaging an increase of the production."
Integration of Zodiac Aerospace is another challenge for Safran, and the CEO believes a significant amount of work remains to resolve issues with its interior cabin business unit. Safran noted a slight recovery in seat orders, enabling it to achieve a book-to-bill of slightly more than one. Zodiac is the main Safran subsidiary facing a Brexit challenge because it employs more than 4,000 people in the UK.
Regarding the Silvercrest engine for business jets, Safran remains confident that it can resolve the problems that led to Dassault's cancellation of the Silvercrest-powered Falcon 5X. Textron Aviation’s Cessna Citation Hemisphere remains the sole customer for the Silvercrest, but that program is now suspended. The engine maker has to redesign the high-pressure compressor, a task that will take around one year, to resume flight testing in 2020. Some analysts think the Silvercrest’s problem might serve as a rationale to kill the Hemisphere program or to switch to Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PW800 as Dassault did with the 6X. "I know those concerns," said Petitcolin. "We are still discussing with Textron. My number-one goal is to produce an engine which gives the right performances."
Safran is still planning for first delivery of the Patroller tactical UAV next year. The French army has ordered 14 Patrollers, which are based on the Stemme ES-15 motorglider platform.
Meanwhile, as Airbus and Dassault have said that they will join forces to develop a Future Combat Air System for Europe without BAE, Safran is on tap to participate in this program. "Discussions are ongoing with the German engine industry on a partnership," said Petitcolin, without citing a name for a potential engine manufacturer. MTU could be one of the future partners.
