LEAP-X1C: the powerplant that will launch China’s C919 narrowbody

The LEAP-X’s launch aircraft is the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China’s (COMAC’s) 168-190 passenger C919 narrowbody.

It will be the largest commercial airliner ever designed and built in China. Its first flight is expected to take place in 2014, with initial deliveries scheduled for 2016.

CFM and COMAC are now in a joint definition phase for the LEAP-X1C (provisionally named). It is a one-year program to integrate engine and airplane to find the optimum engine configuration. When it is complete in 2011, CFM will freeze the configuration of the LEAP-X1C and launch product design.

Showcasing the LEAP-X technology suite

When the LEAP-X1C engine is certified prior to the C919’s first flight at the end of 2014, it will incorporate all the technologies developed under the LEAP-X program that are mature and ready.

These include the lightweight composite fan, the lean burn, low emissions combustor (second-generation TAPS technology), and ceramic matrix composites in the high-pressure turbine.

Operators can expect double-digit fuel burn improvement compared to current production CFM56 engines. Noise levels will also be cut in half and NOx levels will meet CAEP/6 requirements with 50 percent margin. These advances will come even as the LEAP-X inherits the unsurpassed reliability and maintenance cost of the CFM56.

Accompanying the LEAP-X1C is an integrated propulsion system (IPS) built by Nexcelle –another GE and SAFRAN joint venture.

By working together, the team of engine manufacturer, nacelle maker and aircraft maker will be able to clean up interfaces and reduce weight. CFM and Nexcelle will be working together to achieve acoustic benefits and fuel burn retention advantages. This collaboration will provide operators with an additional gain in fuel efficiency of up tp 2%.