GE, Safran find bogus parts on more jet engines in AOG probe

CFM International Inc. identified more aircraft engines and forged documents linked to the UK parts distributor behind an alleged scheme to sell aircraft components backed by forged records. 

An extensive review by the engine-making joint venture of General Electric Co. and France’s Safran SA found that 145 engines in the global fleet have been fitted with bogus parts linked to London-based AOG Technics Ltd., a CFM spokesman said in a statement. More than half of the affected engines have been removed from service. 

The updated tally marks an increase from the 126 affected engines previously identified by the partners earlier this month. The CFM56 powerplants are used in older Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 jets, still some of the most widely used aircraft in the global fleet.  

The new findings were made after an “exhaustive” review of records supplied by AOG under a court order obtained by the CFM partners last month. The examination of those records has been completed, CFM said, a sign that the scandal’s scope is coming into clearer view. The latest update shows fewer than 1% of the 22,600 CFM56 engines in service today were affected, the engine-maker said.  

“We are closely working with CFM56 operators affected by unauthorized parts from AOG Technics while supporting the investigation to keep unapproved parts out of the global supply chain,” CFM said in the statement. The company has shared the results of its review with aviation regulators in the US, Europe and UK. 

The AOG scandal, first reported by Bloomberg in late August, has reverberated around the industry as the number of airlines finding the unapproved parts on their aircraft have grown. The incidents have affected carriers from Portugal to the US and as far as Australia, underscoring the global nature of the problem and the industry’s effort to contain it.

The review also found 180 forged records in total, up from fewer than 100 previously. 

GE established a task force to scour through the forged records and identify the parts that must be removed from affected airlines, GE’s chief executive officer said. 

“We took this matter quite seriously,” GE CEO Larry Culp said in an interview Tuesday after the company released third-quarter earnings. “There has been nothing short of an extensive review of that documentation and we’re working with the airlines to remove the unauthorized parts from their engines.”

Major carriers including Delta Air Lines Inc., United Airlines Holdings Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. have found and removed suspect parts sold by AOG from their fleets. So too have carriers in Europe and Asia. 

CFM, GE and Safran are working on internal changes to curb the risk of similar episodes in the future. The companies also plan to work with others in the industry on long-term actions in order to prevent other bad actors from passing off forged airworthiness records in the future, the CFM spokesman said.