Le Bourget, National Air Services (NAS) today announced that it has selected CFM International's CFM56-5B engine to power 20 firm Airbus A320 family aircraft.

The aircraft are scheduled for delivery between 2012 and 2016 and the order is valued at $620 million U.S. at list price including a service and support agreement. The airline is scheduled to take delivery in 2012 and 2013

Together with the engine selection, NAS also signed an eight-year Rate per Flight Hour (RPFH) agreement to provide comprehensive maintenance service for the fleet under which CFM will guarantee maintenance costs on a dollar per engine flight hour basis.

"We are so pleased that NAS has chosen to remain with the CFM56-5B engines for its purchased fleet," said Jean-Paul Ebanga, President and CEO of CFM. "We have established a great relationship with them in a relatively short time and we look forward to working more closely with them through the RPFH agreement to service and support this growing fleet."

NAS, currently operating through its low-cost carrier nasiar from its base in Riyadh, was formed in 2007 and has since grown to operate more than 450 flights per week to more than 30 domestic and international destinations. The airline currently operates a fleet of nine leased CFM56-5B-powered Airbus A320 aircraft.

All of NAS's new engines will be the CFM56-5B Performance Improvement Package (PIP) configuration. The -5B PIP completed extensive ground testing and more than 26 hours of flight testing on the A320. The engine, which will become the new production standard, is on schedule for certification and entry into service by the end of 2011.

The improvements, which provide a 0.5% improvement in fuel burn, includehardware changes to the core, including new high-pressure turbine blade, as well as manufacturing changes the fan and compressor blades and vanes to improve performance retention. The engine will maintain the same noise signature as the current production engine. These enginesalso meet current International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Committee of Aviation Environmental Protection standards (CAEP /6) requirements.