FTAI Wants V2500 Capability In Montreal Shop

FTAI Aviation is eyeing expansion of its recently acquired Montreal overhaul facility to include IAE V2500 capability to support its expanding portfolio for the popular narrowbody engine.

The Montreal shop, purchased from Lockheed Martin Commercial Engine Solutions (LMCES) in September, specializes in CFM56s—FTAI’s primary product line. But the company is rapidly expanding its portfolio of International Aero Engines (IAE) V2500 engines available for sale or lease.

FTAI acquires run-out V2500s and partners with IAE, owned by a consortium that includes Pratt & Whitney, which overhauls them. FTAI then re-markets the engines. While the arrangement works, FTAI would welcome an internal source for the performance-restoration work.

“We have had discussions with Pratt about potentially having Montreal ... become a V2500 shop,” FTAI COO David Moreno said on the company’s Oct. 31 earnings call. “We would like to ultimately have that capability in Montreal but that’s something we haven’t finalized a discussion on yet.”

FTAI was the Montreal shop’s largest customer before the acquisition and worked with LMCES to transform the facility into a module-focused facility. It has three test cells and can service up to 900 modules annually, FTAI said.

The modules feed what the company terms its MRE—or maintenance, repair and exchange—business, where modules are swapped to minimize shop-visit turnaround times. Run-out modules are restored to support subsequent visits.

FTAI’s business is heavily tilted towards CFM56 work, but it launched a V2500 exchange program in late 2023 and signed an agreement with IAE, a consortium that includes Pratt, in June.

It ended the quarter with 442 CFM56s in its portfolio, including ones on lease and in various stages of overhaul. Its V2500 inventory is up to 145 engines with near-term plans targeting 200.

Meanwhile, the company declined to offer an update on certification of its second CFM56 hot-section part design seeking FAA parts manufacturer approval (PMA).

The company has teamed up with Chromalloy to develop and sell five CFM56 hot-section parts. One, a low-pressure turbine vane, has been approved so far and is flying on “more than” 15 engines, CEO Joe Adams said at a Jefferies investor event in September.

Approval of the second part is “close,” he added, but declined to provide a timeline—a stance he stuck to on the earnings call.

“We don’t give guidance on expectations of when parts will be approved,” Adams said. “We’ve only said that we’re very pleased with the progress that’s been made, and we are happy with the product itself, but we don’t specifically forecast when approvals will be obtained.”