Airline, CFM Ink Long-Term MRO Agreement

Low-cost carrier Ryanair and CFM International announced a new memorandum of understanding to establish a long-term maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) service for more than 2,000 CFM56 and LEAP-1B turbofan engines powering Ryanair’s entire fleet of Boeing 737 jets. CFM also will provide spare material services for Ryanair’s two planned, in-house maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) operations.

Dublin-based Ryanair Group is the largest airline serving Europe, and reported carrying 197.2 million passengers in 2024. When the airline acquired 30 new LEAP-1B spare engines last June at a list price of $500 million, it indicated it plans to increase its fleet to 800 737s to achieve its goal of 300 million passengers by 2034.

“Ryanair will place substantial orders for initial spare parts provisioning with CFM to support the opening of each of these two Ryanair engine maintenance facilities,” stated group CEO Michael O’Leary. “When Ryanair takes over all its engine maintenance in-house, we expect this contract will be worth in excess of $1 billion annually to CFM in spare engines and spare parts supplies.”

The airline’s fleet include more than 600 Boeing 737-700, -800, and 737 MAX 8-200 aircraft, and it has orders and options in place for 300 Boeing 737 MAX 10 jets. It reportedly operates the most CFM-powered Boeing aircraft of any airline in the world.

Ryanair has MRO operations at airports in Ireland, England, Scotland, Spain, Poland, and Lithuania, performing heavy and line maintenance. Two new specialized workshops for engine maintenance are planned to open in 2029, with several sites in consideration.

CFM International is a joint-venture of GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines. Its CFM56 high-bypass turbofan engine is installed in more than 400 Ryanair 737 Next Generation aircraft; and the succeeding LEAP engine power the 737 MAX series.

“With the ongoing success of the CFM56 and the rapid growth of the LEAP fleet, we are investing to build a global MRO network within an open and competitive ecosystem to help our airline customers optimize fleet efficiency and control operational costs,” stated Olivier Andriès, CEO of Safran.