Podcast: What Stood Out At The 2025 Paris Air Show

Listen in as editors discuss the big MRO news from this year’s Paris Air Show, as well as what changed from the last time the industry convened in Le Bourget in 2023.

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Rough Transcript

Lee Ann Shay:

Welcome to the latest MRO Podcast. Today's topic, aftermarket news, most of which was engine-related from last week's Paris Air Show. I'm Lee Ann Shay, Aviation Week's executive editor for MRO and business aviation. And joining me are Thierry Dubois, who is Aviation Week's European technology editor and our France bureau chief, as well as James Pozzi, our MRO editor for the EMEA region. Thierry and James, welcome to the MRO Podcast.

Thierry Dubois:

Hi Lee Ann.

James Pozzi:

Hi Lee Ann.

Lee Ann Shay:

So, Thierry, you've covered a lot of Paris Air Shows, the supply chain sustainability and India aircraft orders were the big topics of the last one in 2023. What did this one feel like? Let's start out with the supply chain aspect.

Thierry Dubois:

Sure. The industry seems to be still stuck with its supply chain problems, both on the manufacturing side and MRO side. Meaning MRO companies are still missing spare parts. And so OEMs are doing their best. They are themselves facing supply chain problems. So they are doing their best for most of them to provide MRO service providers with more spare parts, with new methods. For instance, Safran, so one of the two partners in the CFM, international Engine Joint Ventures. Safran has gone for a triple source strategy for some parts instead of the dual source strategy. Instead of the dual source strategy they had from the beginning on the leap.

Also, they are developing additive manufacturing technologies and they want MRO shops to be as efficient as possible, but it's not always easy. Some of those suppliers are cash strapped and for example, Boeing is spending in capital expenditures with its suppliers and basically helping cash strapped suppliers. We're helping them with inventory as well. And I heard quite an interesting quote just on the eve of the Paris Air Show by William Ampofo is the senior vice president parts distribution and supply chain for Boeing Global Services. And he sees more collaboration between the OEM and its suppliers as it should be in a true partnership. So I thought, "Well, maybe at least this ongoing sort of never-ending supply chain crisis has a silver lining, it has a silver lining with better collaboration between the OEMs and the suppliers."

Lee Ann Shay:

Sustainability is going to require a whole lot of collaboration, a lot of partners. But is it taking a back seat now mean what is your perspective?

Thierry Dubois:

Yes, exactly. The impression this year, the Paris Air Show was sustainability, some sort of taking a back seat. Efforts have been slowing down in Europe at least. I see two main reasons. One reason is that European manufacturers, especially Airbus, is not seeing strong competition from the US in terms of sustainability. So in other words, Boeing is not designing a new more fuel efficient aircraft, for example, anytime soon. And the other reason maybe that trials and demonstrations research technology of the last two years have shown that some technologies are so tricky that maybe those manufacturers have to wait another few years for those technologies to mature batteries, for instance.

The last Paris Air Show just in front of the Paris lab, so the research and technology part of the show, we could see on exhibit on display outside quite an impressive aircraft. It's a modified TBM, so a single toggle prop and it's modified with a distributed propulsion system over the wing and hybrid electric propulsion. And since it has flown, it has performed amazingly well, meaning that aerodynamically, it was challenging and engineers have learned a lot. So that would be a much more fuel efficient architecture except that for hybrid electric you need batteries and they said, well, we cannot proceed because the batteries are not energy dense enough yet.

Lee Ann Shay:

Thank you, Thierry. Speaking of engines, Pratt & Whitney produced a lot of news which spanned a wide swath from ITP Aero to Cebu Pacific and Wizz Air at the show. And James, what stands out to you?

James Pozzi:

Yes, Lee Ann. The GTF, it's fair to say, was very prominent at Paris last week and certainly on the OEM side, a lot of good news coming from them. Of course, this followed on the eve of Paris, the unveiling of the advantage update for the GTF engine and increasing the engine's durability, which of course as we know the manufacturers had a lot of issues with over the last few years and we've reported on extensively of course. So that was a pre-Paris boost coming into the show and certainly at the show they followed that up. So just starting with some of those prominent orders which had the engine-wise aftermarket services programs tied into them. As you mentioned, Cebu Pacific, of course the Philippines-based low-cost carrier, they have a lot of commitments for A321neo aircraft perhaps with new GTF engines. I think it's up to 152 now of the aircraft following the Paris Air Show.

And of course they're all powered by GTF engines. Then of course there's Wizz Air. They had 177 aircraft firm order placed at Paris and that added to an existing commitment. So in total that's up to 453 GTF engines arriving. So that's a huge fleet growth coming their way of course. And interestingly, Wizz Air have been pretty vocal before about some of the issues they've had with the GTF from the durability side and the impact that's had on them financially and they've had some very interesting things to say over the last couple of years. So that's I guess a sign of confidence from their side in that engine. Also, worth noting LOT Polish Airlines, they ordered up to 40 A220s and that's powered by the PW1500 engine. So more growth happening there with the A220. It's becoming a very popular narrow body in fleets, especially around Europe it seems.

Let's look at the aftermarket ITP Aero, company we've covered a lot over the last year. Former Rolls Royce business, of course sold to Bain Capital three years ago. They've made no secret of their ambitions in the commercial aftermarket, particularly on the engine side, but also seeing an engine component opportunity as well. So they've joined the GTF MRO network. They'll do full maintenance including overhauls at their site in Madrid where they mostly do other non-commercial work, a bit of work for the Spanish Air Force, some helicopter engines and some business and regional jets too, but they'll be adding a real commercial footprint to that site. They're investing around a hundred million euros into this over the next four to five years. And this will focus on two engine types in the GTF portfolio. It'll be the PW1500 for the Airbus A220 as I mentioned previously in relation to LOT, and also the PW1900, that's for the Embraer E-Jet E2 aircraft.

And this will also, in addition to MRO, have test capability. Given what we know about ITP Aero, this isn't a surprise, as I mentioned, they had big aftermarket ambitions, certainly in the commercial side. They want to make MRO as a whole 20 to 25% of their revenues by 2030 currently to get an indicator of the growth required there. It stands around 10% of their portfolio on their revenue. And also ITP Aero have that capability and knowledge I guess because they're risk and revenue sharing partner in the GTF program. And they do manufacture several critical components on the engine. For example, mid-turbine frame and integrally bladed rotors made of nickel for high pressure components. That's just some of the things they do. I visited their shop quite recently and got to see some of this capability. What is also worth mentioning and very interesting, when they start engine work in early 2027, unlike a lot of shops that say they're going to go and start with light work, scopes before ramping up and undertaking heavier work scopes, ITP Aero are going to be targeting initially the heavier side of the work scopes.

They've got the capability, they've got a lot of engineers to call upon, but more than anything they want to be exposed to the engine straight away and some of those deeper, heavier work scopes so they can, I guess build up their knowledge of the program and learn things along the way. And it's going to be a really considerable ramp up in Madrid. It's going to be up to 120 plus engine inductions annually by 2033 when it hits that peak. So yeah, that program's going to grow really quickly and I think we'll obviously be seeing a lot of activity there over the next eight years away. So that's going to build and build. So yeah, significant for the program for Pratt & Whitney because I think ITP ARE now the, I think, 21st member of the GTF network obviously comprised of Pratt & Whitney shops and the joint ventures and partners like ITP Aero. So yeah, exciting news there for the program and it's come at the right time really, I guess, because Pratt & Whitney have had a couple of booths recently and certainly this adds to that.

Lee Ann Shay:

Thank you, James. Speaking of MRO providers, AFI KLM Engineering and Maintenance had some very interesting news, including some from AerCap and Rolls-Royce, Thierry, you covered that news. Was there anything surprising?

Thierry Dubois:

Indeed, it was a worthwhile press conference. If I may give a shout-out, not every company is so candid about what they are doing and the issues they are facing. And Anne Brachet, the executive vice president of the company, was particularly frustrated, at least one can say at some of the suppliers who are not delivering on time or sometimes not delivering at all on the spare parts of the company expects. And some of those suppliers are dragging their feet when it comes to helping Air France Industries KLM, design new repairs.

In other words, when you are an MRO provider and spare parts come late, at least you want to repair the parts your customers would like to reuse. For that, you have the capability to design the repair, but you need help, you need support from the manufacturer. And some of them are dragging feet, so she clearly asked those suppliers to help to be more cooperative and she named one of them, she named Woodwood and the company of France Industries KLM has been suing. They filed a complaint a few months ago against Woodwood and guess what? Anne Brachet said, "Guess what? Since we filed a complaint, they're being more cooperative with helping designing parts repairs."

Lee Ann Shay:

That is interesting. So it kind of goes full circle back to more cooperation and interesting developments.

Thierry Dubois:

And again, more cooperation needed between the manufacturer and either the operator or the immoral provider or well, more cooperation needed at every level.

Lee Ann Shay:

And especially in the engine world where we've talked a lot about and report on a lot of the engine program ramp ups and repair development. And even like with CFM LEAP, which is we for aviation data forecast will represent 58% of all engine deliveries, not including spares over the next decade, but the ramp above these programs from narrow bodies, especially Pratt and the LEAP. And then we got Rolls on the white body side too. Gentlemen, any other news that really stands out from the Paris Air Show?

Thierry Dubois:

Another one, another piece of news from the France Industries KLM Engineering and Maintenance Press conference. They were also very open about what they're facing with their Airbus A220 fleet and maintenance issues or premature engine removal issues that are present with the GTF is causing. And Air France Industries has devised predictive maintenance methods or they are monitoring vibration and they can remove the engine at a time that is as convenient as possible as opposed to having to remove it away from the base. Sorry. The problem most specifically is with bearing number four in the engine and they are so far replacing it with the same design and waiting for Pratt & Whitney to come with a new design.

Lee Ann Shay:

James, you had something to add?

James Pozzi:

Yeah, I think it's worth giving the wide body segment a mention. Of course, Lee Ann, you mentioned Rolls-Royce before and they had a particularly good week. They announced approximately 142 commercial engine orders. It was only centered on two programs though, although two different variants or one program. So there were 90 Trent XWB-97s, 12 of the -84 variant and 40 Trent 7000 engines. So obviously Rolls have been actively looking to grow their aftermarket capacity. They've spoken to us a fair bit in recent years about that and obviously they're investing a lot in their networks in Europe and beyond. Of course with the new joint venture to name a few in China, Beijing Aero Engine Services Company, BAESL, which goes online or is due to go online next year.

At Paris they had some progress in the aftermarket and again, it's pretty much centered on the Trent XWB, which has been a very successful program for them to date since entry of service. AFI KLM, they had just inducted their first engine of the -84 variants at Paris, Charles de Gaulle in Paris week. Of course two years ago at the Paris Air Show 2023, they announced that capability for that engine in Paris. So they're kind of ramping up and moving forward and also some of the orders are interesting and how that may shape the aftermarket in future. Riyadh Air. Of course they are entering into operation I think late in 2025. To the dates, they have ordered 787s, but they're heading towards a mixed fleet.

Of course they've got commitments in the narrow body space for A321neo's, but they announced an order for 25 A350-1000s with Trent XWB-97 engines, 50 of those. And on the Trent 7000s, of course Vietjet had that order for 40 of those engines for the A330neo. So a lot of orders in place on the wide body side, and that'll likely mean more aftermarket ramp ups for Rolls, which obviously we know they're working to do with these new partners and the expansions of existing sites. So something that was interesting from Paris, definitely in the wide body side and a pretty buoyant week for them.

Lee Ann Shay:

Well gentlemen, we covered a lot from engine orders to aftermarket developments including new repairs. There's a lot of engineers coming out of Europe and it's a good thing, I guess we have Aero-Engines Europe coming up in the beginning of September. So, Thierry and James, thank you for joining me today on this MRO Podcast. And listeners, don't miss the next episode. Subscribe to the MRO Podcast wherever you listen to them. And one last request, please consider leaving us a star rating or writing a review. Thank you so much and have a great day.

Lee Ann Shay

As executive editor of MRO and business aviation, Lee Ann Shay directs Aviation Week's coverage of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), including Inside MRO, and business aviation, including BCA.

Thierry Dubois

Thierry Dubois has specialized in aerospace journalism since 1997. An engineer in fluid dynamics from Toulouse-based Enseeiht, he covers the French commercial aviation, defense and space industries. His expertise extends to all things technology in Europe. Thierry is also the editor-in-chief of Aviation Week’s ShowNews. 

James Pozzi

As Aviation Week's MRO Editor EMEA, James Pozzi covers the latest industry news from the European region and beyond. He also writes in-depth features on the commercial aftermarket for Inside MRO.

Comments

1 Comment
Compared to 2023 based on your reporting, this year's show was a "nothing burger".