Snecma Services, Timco Join on CFM56

France-based Snecma Services is launching a major effort to capture market share on CFM56 customer on-site support in North America. Through a partnership with Timco Aviation Services, Snecma is offering line maintenance services both on-wing and in customer hangars. Snecma Services says the two pillars of the partnership are its knowledge of the engine (parent company Snecma holds a 50-percent share in the CFM joint-venture with General Electric) and the insider position Timco has in many U.S. airlines.

Operations under the new Snecma-Timco banner started last October. "We are under pressure from the airlines to reduce operating costs and to get closer to them," Pierre-Emmanuel Gires, Snecma Services's vice-president for customer support, told Aviation Maintenance. As a consequence, since 1999, on-wing and on-site activities have grown rapidly (see chart).

Snecma's mid- to long-term objective is to have its own engine repair workshop in the U.S. "But we first have to find some customers to fill our future facility with engines," Gires said. To come to the U.S. market, Snecma could choose between two possibilities. "We could either send a team there or find a local partner," he added. In the first instance, the team would wait for some contracts to be signed before launching full-time activity. In addition, "we have little day-to-day relationship with U.S. airlines, although some are our customers under repair contracts," Gires said. In fact, these type of contracts imply frequent but not necessarily daily contact. Therefore, Snecma chose the second solution and subcontracts some work to Timco. "Timco is the number-one in airplane repair and their line maintenance business is growing," he said.

Other companies were seen as possible partners. Snecma asked GE, of course, but the U.S. giant declined. According to Gires, Timco has the advantage of being well implemented with North American airlines. Timco also has four big airplane repair bases in Greensboro, North Carolina, Lake City, Florida, Goodyear, Arizona, and Macon, Georgia. Among Timco's customers are United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and America West.

Snecma has already trained four Timco employees in its refurbished CFM56 training center in Montereau, near Paris. "We have also sent a Snecma employee to supervise the beginning of operations until Timco employees are autonomous," Gires added. There should be another six to ten Timco employees trained at Snecma within the next 12 months. On its side, the French company has half a dozen people dedicated to on-line support, with additional expert staff coming directly from Snecma's factories.

Snecma brings the company's knowledge of the CFM56 turbofan. In addition, innovative solutions have been developed for on-wing repairs. "In case a bird strike damages the fan abradable liner in the fan case, we can replace it on wing," Gires told AM, adding that Snecma is the only company capable of that fix. Also, replacing damaged blades in the high-pressure compressor (HPC) does not require taking the engine apart in the manufacturer's shop. Snecma developed a simplified method in which the engine is taken off the wing and the HPC case is removed in the customer's hangar. A similar simplification is in place to replace high-pressure turbine blades and low-pressure compressor disks.

Snecma's move is part of a mid-term effort to take advantage, in the field of services, of the strong position of the CFM56 in the aviation market. "Unfortunately, services were not part of the GE-Snecma agreements three decades ago when the two companies formed their CFM joint-venture," Gires regretted. GE came to this market earlier than its French partner and captured large market share. Snecma now wants to be a full-size competitor. "We will first show our know-how," Gires said.