First 737 with more efficient engines delivered

The China Southern 737-800 fitted with the CFM56-7BE engine.

Boeing has delivered the first 737 fitted with the new standard CFM56-7BE engines with the handover of a 737-800 to China Southern Airlines last week.

The CFM56-7BE engine configuration features modified high and low pressure turbines to improve fuel consumption and reduce maintenance costs, and is a key element of Boeing’s 737 performance improvement package, which along with some aerodynamic tweaks is intended to reduce the 737’s fuel consumption by two per cent.

“Other fuel performance incorporations will take place into 2012 and data analysis will continue to quantify the final benefit to customers,” Boeing said in a statement.

Boeing says these latest improvements will mean the 737NG will be seven per cent more efficient compared to the when the aircraft was first delivered in 1998.