On April 24, 1982, the first-ever airplane powered by CFM56 engines, a Delta Air Lines DC-8-71 powered by the CFM56-2, took to the skies. In the years after that, CFM International would go on to add seven additional engine models that, today, power more than 20 different commercial and military aircraft types for more than 600 operators across the globe.

Recently, the CFM56 fleet established a new world record by becoming the first aircraft engine family in aviation history to achieve one billion engine flight hours.

"We are obviously very proud that our engines have reached this historic milestone," said Gaël Méheust, president and CEO of CFM International. "But we only built the engines. The credit for this remarkable achievement goes to our customers who put their trust in us, operating our engines day in and day out."

"On behalf of the CFM Team worldwide, all I can say is 'Thanks a Billion' to each and every one of them."

Gaël Méheust

This milestone also represents the fastest accumulation on hours ever; the fleet reached 500 million hours in November 2010 and more than doubled that total in just over eight years.

To help put this achievement into perspective ...

- One billion hours equates to nearly 115,000 years.

- CFM56 engines have carried more than 35 billion people. That's like flying the world's entire population of seven billion people five times over.

- The fleet has flown more than 200 billion miles. That equates to flying around the world more than eight million times. Or flying to Pluto and back 20 times. It's more than 400,000 round trips to the moon.

Since the first engines were delivered some 37 years ago, CFM has established a reputation for world-class customer and product support. There are more than 250 technical service representatives on-site with airlines in more than 50 countries, and more than 40 maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider facilities around the world.

CFM provides 24-hour support for Aircraft on Ground (AOG) issues, spare parts and spare engine requirements, and technical assistance, while our Technical Training facilities in the U.S., France, China and India provide comprehensive, hands-on and digital maintenance training for all engine models.

Contributed by CFM International