Safran Nacelles’ joint venture in China assembles its 8,000th thrust reverser door for CFM56 jet engines

Zhuhai, China, November 3, 2016 – A new production milestone has been achieved in China with completion of the 8,000th thrust reverser door for CFM56 jet engines assembled by the Xian SAVI Nacelles joint venture of Safran Nacelles and AVIC Aircraft Co. Ltd. 

This latest accomplishment – announced today at Airshow China 2016 in Zhuhai – underscores the success of Xian SAVI Nacelles in four years of operation as a pioneering nacelle component manufacturer in China, and positions it for new assembly responsibilities in the future.

“We are proud of this new success, which results from the professionalism of a young and motivated Chinese team,” said Safran Nacelles CEO Jean-Paul Alary.  “Xian SAVI Nacelles has continually met its goals in quality and output rates for an important, high-volume program, and we look forward to the joint venture’s further evolution as part of Safran Nacelles’ presence in China.”

Located at Xi'an, the Xian SAVI Nacelles operation was created in 2011 as a long-term industrial partnership to produce and assemble jet engine nacelle components.

Deliveries from Xi’an began in 2012, with the doors being used in Safran Nacelles’ thrust reversers that equip CFM International CFM56-5A/5B engines on Airbus A318, A319, A320 and A321 jetliners.  Four blocker doors are installed on each thrust reverser, and they function by pivoting open during landing to block the jet engine's exhaust – providing braking assistance for the aircraft. At current rates, more than 2,200 thrust reverser doors are assembled and delivered annually by Xian SAVI Nacelles.

In the future, Xian SAVI Nacelles will extend its activity to nacelle assemblies for the Integrated Propulsion System (IPS) on China’s COMAC C919 twin-engine jetliner.  The C919’s IPS is composed of the CFM International LEAP-1C powerplant and a nacelle system supplied by Nexcelle – the joint venture of Safran Nacelles and GE Aviation’s Middle River Aircraft Systems.

In a demonstration of Xian SAVI Nacelles’ readiness for this new responsibility, a team from Xi’an has performed a rapid integration task on the two LEAP-1C Integrated Propulsion Systems that will power COMAC’s no. 1 C919. Traveling to the final assembly site in Shanghai last month, this Xian SAVI Nacelles team supported Nexcelle in the fitting of air inlets and other components for the LEAP-1C Integrated Propulsion Systems, executing the work efficiently and professionally.