Arkia signs $200 million Leap-1A support agreement

LE BOURGET, France — 21 June 2017 — Arkia Israeli Airlines (Arkia) has signed a long-term Rate Per Flight Hour agreement with CFM International to support is fleet of advanced LEAP-1A engines that will power four Airbus A321neo.  The engine order was announced in April 2017; the aircraft order was announced in July 2012.

Under the terms of the 15-year agreement, valued at $200 million U.S. at list price, CFM will guarantee the maintenance costs of the LEAP-1A engines on a dollar per flight hour basis.

Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, Arkia is the country’s second largest airline.  As a new CFM customer, it will be the first airline to operate the LEAP engine in Israel.

“We are pleased with our choice of the LEAP-1A engine and we are delighted to now extend the relationship to the long-term support of that fleet,” said Nir Dagan, President & CEO of Arkia.  “Being able to have predictable maintenance costs is an important element in our long-term strategy and we are happy to have chosen CFM as our partner.”

“We look forward to building a great relationship with Arkia,” said Gaël Méheust, president and CEO of CFM International. “We believe they will be very happy with the benefits that the LEAP engine will bring to their operations and by the very high level of support that the CFM team will provide.”

The LEAP-1A engine entered commercial service in August 2016 and is providing its fourteen operators with a 15 percent improvement in fuel efficiency, with an equivalent reduction in CO2 emissions; lower noise and emissions; and CFM’s industry-leading reliability and low overall operating costs.  To date, the fleet in service has logged more than 77,000 engine flight cycles and more than 145,000 engine flight hours.