General Electric Co. and Safran SA have identified 126 jet engines fitted with parts sold by a UK distributor with falsified airworthiness records, highlighting how the scandal involving uncertified components sold by a rogue supplier continues to grow.
The partners in CFM International Inc. had previously said 96 engines were found with components sold by AOG Technics Ltd., the London-based firm at the center of the parts probe. CFM has also identified 95 falsified documents related to the parts, up from the 86 faked records it had found by late September, the company said in a statement.
The additional engines affected were found as CFM, the world’s largest manufacturer of jet engines, continues to work to pinpoint the origin of the parts and who purchased them. More forged records and affected engines may still be uncovered.
GE and Safran must still sift through additional records provided by AOG on Wednesday, the deadline imposed by a London judge for the supplier to produce documents. The CFM partners last month asked a UK court to force AOG to hand over documents relating to “every single sale of products.”
Global Case
The scandal involving a little-known UK supplier is reverberating around the industry, with a growing number of airlines coming out with revelations that they’ve found suspected unapproved parts on their aircraft. The incidents have spread from the Portugal to the US and as far as Australia, underscoring the global reach of the problem and the effort it will take to identify the parts.
“CFM is reviewing the documentation turned over by AOG Technics as part of our effort to determine the full extent of their sale of parts with fraudulent documentation,” the company said in a statement.
European and US regulators have said that London-based AOG sold parts backed by falsified airworthiness records for a longstanding type of jet engine powering many older-generation Airbus SE A320 and Boeing Co. 737 aircraft.
GE and CFM said last month that thousands of jet-engine parts with faked documents were sold by AOG, which airlines, CFM and others in the industry have been racing to find and remove them from their aircraft.
Delta Air Lines Inc. earlier this week said it had found components from AOG on a number of its aircraft, joining other major carriers including Southwest Airlines Co. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. announcing similar discoveries.
(Updates with findings from engine makers throughout)
