CFM International (B): LEAPing Into the Future

By 2017, after a long and highly successful run, the joint venture CFM’s and its parent firms’ leadership faces new challenges and must once again reconsider their commitment to the JV. CFM’s engines have come to dominate the narrow body aircraft market, but technology and regulatory changes have posed new competitive challenges. CFM is exploring a brand new engine platform to meet these challenges, re-opening the underlying terms of the JV’s original agreement. At the same time, the partners must continue to deliver on an extensive backlog for the highly successful CFM-56, one of the most popular engines in the market, and find ways to equitably pursue new revenue streams in service and maintenance. As they approach the 40th anniversary of their agreement, CFM and its parent companies reconsider the underlying elements of the JV’s success. Can they survive a new engine platform, and a new global approach to their market?