At the Dubai Airshow, Riyadh Air signed a major deal for LEAP‑1A engines produced by CFM International, a joint venture between France’s Safran and the US group GE Aerospace, in a move that strengthens Safran’s position among the top suppliers of commercial aircraft engines.
Riyadh Air’s big bet on a French‑American engine
Riyadh Air, founded in 2023 under the Saudi “Vision 2030” strategy, wants to turn the kingdom’s capital into a global aviation hub. The airline is positioning itself as a premium carrier, aimed at long-haul business and leisure travellers, and needs a modern narrow‑body fleet to feed that network.
To do that, the company has ordered 60 Airbus A321neo jets and will equip them with 120 LEAP‑1A engines. Each twin‑engine aircraft will obviously need two engines, but the size of the order hints at a wider relationship built on long‑term operations and maintenance support.
Safran’s LEAP‑1A engines, through CFM International, have secured a contract valued at roughly €1.4 billion, not counting spares and services.
The deal was made public on 18 November 2025 at the Dubai Airshow and adds to an already overflowing order book for the LEAP family. For Riyadh Air, the contract serves two purposes at once: securing reliable powerplants for its future routes and aligning with the global push for lower emissions.
A contract that quietly crosses the billion-euro mark
Safran has not disclosed the official price. Yet industry benchmarks point to a ballpark figure. Based on previous commercial deals, a single LEAP‑1A is often valued around €12 million. On that basis, 120 engines alone approach €1.4 billion.
That figure tells only part of the story. Modern engine contracts rarely stop at hardware. They are bundled with support packages covering spares, maintenance, digital monitoring and crew and technician training. Over 10 to 15 years, the total value of such a package can outgrow the initial “sticker price” of the engines themselves.
- Approximate value of 120 engines: €1.4 billion
- Additional spares: several hundred million euros possible
- Long‑term support and training: multi‑year recurring revenue
For Safran and GE, the real prize lies in decades of maintenance and overhaul activity tied to this fast‑growing Gulf carrier.
For Riyadh Air, securing a comprehensive service deal cuts operational risk. The airline will lean heavily on the manufacturer’s expertise, especially during its early years, when its own engineering teams are still scaling up.
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Leap‑1a: technology tuned for efficiency and hot climates
The LEAP acronym stands for “Leading Edge Aviation Propulsion” and marks CFM’s successor to the widely used CFM56. Since its entry into service in 2016, the LEAP‑1A has become one of the reference engines for Airbus’s A320neo family.
Key performance gains over the previous generation
The attraction for airlines is simple: lower fuel burn, fewer emissions and quieter operations. According to CFM, the engine consumes about 15% less fuel than the CFM56, which powered the previous generation of single‑aisle aircraft like the original A320 and many Boeing 737s.
| Feature | LEAP‑1A benefit |
|---|---|
| Fuel consumption | Approx. 15% reduction versus CFM56 |
| CO₂ emissions | About 15% lower output |
| Noise levels | Noticeably quieter around airports |
| Fan diameter | 1.98 m |
| Maximum thrust | Roughly 15,000–35,000 pounds, depending on variant |
| Core technologies | 3D‑woven composite fan blades, ceramic matrix composites, optimised nacelles |
| Assembly locations | France and the United States |
Those numbers matter directly to the airline’s business model. Fuel is typically the largest single operating cost for carriers, often representing a quarter or more of total expenses. A double‑digit cut in consumption can reshape route economics and allow an airline to open city pairs that would have been marginal with older engines.
Built for sand, heat and harsh operating conditions
Riyadh Air will operate in some of the toughest conditions for jet engines: extreme heat, frequent sand and sharp temperature swings between take‑off and cruise altitude.
To address this, CFM has developed a high‑pressure turbine “durability kit” tailored to desert environments. It combines advanced coatings, ceramics and tighter control of cooling airflow inside the turbine section. These measures help limit wear from sand ingestion and reduce the need for early overhauls.
Desert‑optimised turbine parts allow Riyadh Air to keep aircraft in service longer between heavy maintenance checks, improving fleet availability.
That level of customisation also serves as a real‑life stress test for the LEAP technology. Strong performance in the Gulf can act as a reference point for other airlines facing hot‑and‑high airports in Africa, India or Latin America.
Safran’s growing grip on the single‑aisle market
The Riyadh Air order adds pressure on rivals in the most competitive segment of civil aviation: medium‑haul, single‑aisle jets. This category, led by the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX families, represents the bulk of global deliveries and flight hours.
The LEAP‑1A, dedicated to the Airbus side of the market, has already passed key milestones. More than 4,000 LEAP engines have been delivered worldwide, and over 1,700 A320neo and A321neo aircraft currently fly with the type. CFM reports close to 10,000 LEAP units still on order, a backlog that stretches production slots years into the future.
For Safran, this pipeline means predictable revenue and justification for further investment in factories, supply chains and engineering teams. It also opens the door for incremental improvements: small tweaks in materials, software and maintenance methods can reduce operating costs and extend engine life across tens of thousands of cycles.
A Franco‑Saudi partnership with political weight
The Dubai signing ceremony drew senior figures from both sides. Riyadh Air’s chief executive Tony Douglas and chief financial officer Adam Boukadida appeared alongside Safran Aircraft Engines chairman Stéphane Cueille and Safran group CEO Olivier Andriès.
Beyond the photo opportunities, the deal carries geopolitical significance. France has been seeking a stronger industrial footprint in the Gulf, spanning defence, space and energy. High‑profile contracts like this one support that push and reinforce France’s positioning as a technology partner rather than just a supplier.
For Saudi Arabia, working with CFM aligns with its goal of building an “aeronautical ecosystem” under Vision 2030. Long‑term plans include more local engineering jobs, training centres and possibly industrial partnerships around maintenance and component repair.
What this means for travellers and nearby communities
For passengers, the LEAP‑equipped A321neo should bring modest but noticeable changes. Cabins are quieter during climb and descent, and modern flight‑management systems, paired with efficient engines, can allow smoother flight profiles and reduced holding patterns around congested hubs.
Communities living under flight paths often feel the impact first. Reduced noise levels from next‑generation engines, combined with tailored departure and approach procedures, can limit nuisance in areas close to airports, even as traffic grows.
A quieter narrow‑body fleet helps airports argue for growth while addressing concerns from residents around noise and local air quality.
For climate‑conscious travellers, the 15% cut in CO₂ emissions per seat compared with previous‑generation jets does not make flying “green”, but it does reduce the footprint of each trip. Airlines like Riyadh Air may also combine such hardware improvements with sustainable aviation fuels over time, creating a cumulative reduction in emissions.
Key terms and risks behind the headlines
Several technical terms used around this contract are worth clarifying:
- Narrow‑body aircraft: Single‑aisle jets like the A321neo, typically seating 180–240 passengers, used on short to medium‑haul routes.
- Ceramic matrix composites (CMC): Lightweight, heat‑resistant materials used in hot engine sections, allowing higher operating temperatures and better efficiency.
- Health monitoring: Real‑time tracking of engine data in flight, enabling predictive maintenance and reducing unexpected breakdowns.
There are risks on both sides of the deal. Riyadh Air depends heavily on a single engine family for a large chunk of its future fleet. Any design issue, supply chain delay or regulatory grounding could disrupt its growth plans. For CFM and Safran, the challenge lies in sustaining production rates, managing spare‑parts logistics and ensuring fast support to a customer that plans to ramp up rapidly.
Scenario modelling by lessors and banks often assumes several decades of service for each engine, including transfers between operators and possible cargo conversions of airframes later on. The success of this Riyadh Air contract will be judged not just on deliveries, but on how reliably those engines keep flying through heat, sand and tight schedules over 20 or 25 years.
Originally posted 2026-03-05 04:27:32.