Snecma Services is "not seeing any downturn in our [CFM56 overhaul] shops" despite the fact that some airlines are reducing flying and parking aircraft, Chairman and CEO Denis Vercherin said at the Farnborough Airshow last week. In fact, Snecma's MRO arm has revised its business outlook upward in terms of parts demand and shop visits. "We have more CFM56-3 business than we can handle," he said. Snecma Services and its counterpart at General Electric, GE Aviation's services organization, account for around half the maintenance market for CFM56 engines produced by the GE/Snecma partnership, but the two also compete for the business.

Russia is developing into a strong market. Snecma Services has contracts with a number of carriers and claims around a 50% share of all CFM56 engine overhauls performed on behalf of Russian airlines. It signed an MOU last year with Aeroflot to evaluate whether to locate a repair facility there. It is still in contractual discussions and has not settled on a plan of action, Vercherin said. As it has done in Morocco, China and Mexico, it prefers to partner with a local operator that already has an engine test cell. It also is taking this approach in India, where Air India is the only airline with a CFM56 test cell, a legacy of its merger with Indian Airlines last year. CFM previously signed an MOU with Indian to establish an MRO venture that will be the vehicle for Snecma Services' presence there.