Embraer is now facing limited supply of the GE Aerospace CF34 turbofans that power its E175 regional jets, disrupting aircraft production and reflecting the nagging nature of supply chain troubles.
The issue affects an engine GE has produced in several variants since the early 1980s. It comes as GE works to rectify constraints hindering production of the best-selling Leap turbofans it makes in partnership with Safran Aircraft Engines.
Embraer chief executive Francisco Gomes Neto cited the CF34 shortages on 10 September, saying the issue arose this year. One day earlier, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury had pointed to shortages of CFM International Leap-1A turbofans as a major factor holding up deliveries of A320neo-family jets.
“This year [it] has been a big issue for us,” Gomes Neto says of CF34 availability. GE is “not delivering what we need… They are delivering late”.
Fuselage-component shortages have also emerged as a pinch point affecting regional jet production, Gomes Neto adds. “The bottlenecks are changing from one part to another”.
“Embraer is a valued customer, and we are working hard to meet their engine needs,” GE says.
Much talk of engine shortages in recent years focused on Pratt & Whitney’s (P&W) PW1000G family of turbofans, recalls of which have hindered Airbus’s and Embraer’s production and forced airlines to ground hundreds of jets for maintenance.
Gomes Neto sees improvement from P&W, saying, “We are not having production issue with them this year anymore… They are improving a lot of the MRO output”.
GE has been producing variants of CF34s – a 10,000-20,000lb (44.5-89kN)-thrust-class engine – for more than 40 years, with the first entering service in 1983 on the wings of Bombardier’s Challenger 601 business jet.
Bombardier, which still produces Challenger 650s with CF34-3Bs, declines to comment about engine shortages but says its 2025 production guidance accounts for supply chain constraints.
CF34s also power Chinese aircraft manufacturer Comac’s C909.
Embraer’s first-generation E-Jets (E170s, E175s, E190s and E195s) have been the CF34’s top application. Excepting the E175, Embraer has replaced those models with its second-generation E2 family of jets, powered by variants of the PW1000G.
E175s remain Embraer’s best seller thanks to roaring demand from US regional airlines, which cannot, due to pilot-contract provisions, operate the heavier E175-E2 that Embraer proposed but never brought to market.
At end-June, Embraer held unfilled orders for 208 E175s. It aims this year to deliver 77-85 E-Jets of all variants, of which about 35% (equating to 27-30 aircraft) will likely be E175s, with E2s accounting for the balance, says Gomes Neto.
On 9 September, Airbus CEO Faury said shortages of CFM Leap turbofans are the top reason Airbus is holding dozens of A320neo-family “gliders” in its inventory. Gliders are jets that are missing engines but otherwise produced.
“It’s mainly CFM,” Faury said.
Airbus offers A320neos with Leap-1As or PW1100Gs.