CFM International, a joint venture between Safran and GE Aviation, has announced progress towards sustainable air travel.

The company said progress is accelerating for the Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE) technology demonstration program, with more than 250 tests completed and new research partnerships formed, as technologies continue to mature on the way to full-scale open fan tests.

Safran has a facility near Gloucester and GE Aviation has a facility in Bishop's Cleeve.

Gael Meheust, president and CEO of CFM International, said: "The work happening today on test rigs and with research partners around the world represents an unprecedented level of new technology development in CFM's history.

"As CFM celebrates its 50th anniversary, we are acting on our clear ambition to make air transport more sustainable. With the RISE program, CFM will, once again, change the way that people fly."

RISE program activity is moving from component-level evaluations to more module-level tests.

CFM parent company Safran Aircraft Engines' agreement with French aerospace research agency ONERA to conduct wind tunnel tests is demonstrating the aerodynamic and acoustic performance of open fan designs.

More than 200 hours of wind tunnel testing have been completed at Onera Aerospace Lab using a 1:5 scale model of an open fan, including a version of the model mounted on a demonstrator plane wing section for testing with Airbus. A high-speed, low pressure turbine (LPT) test campaign with advanced turbine blades also ran.

Pierre Cottenceau, executive vice president of engineering and research and technology for Safran Aircraft Engines, said: "We have made significant progress in our testing plan, which confirms the benefits of the open fan propulsive system for the next generation of single-aisle aircraft.

"We successfully completed key tests on fan acoustics, aerodynamics and blade ingestion, and the high-speed, low-pressure turbine, while advancing hybrid electric tests for our suite of pioneering technologies."

Additionally, CFM parent company GE Aerospace was recently awarded a contract with US aerospace agency NASA to advance next-generation compressor, combustor and high-pressure turbine (HPT) technologies through an engine compact core demonstration.

After conducting its first test run of next-generation HPT blades and nozzles using a demonstrator engine, GE Aerospace has started a second HPT airfoil endurance campaign. This shows how durability is a key early focus of the RISE program. Tests of next-generation compressor and combustion technologies have also started, looking to advance material capabilities and understanding of how new engine designs impact CO2, as well as non-CO2 emissions.

Mohamed Ali, senior vice president of engineering for GE Aerospace, said: "To change the future of flight and make it more sustainable, we have to change the aircraft engine.

"Around the world, our engineers are rising to this challenge, developing revolutionary technologies to drive the efficiency gains needed. The open fan architecture is the most promising engine technology to help the industry reduce flight emissions, designed to meet or exceed customer expectations for durability and to deliver a step change in fuel efficiency using conventional or alternative jet fuels."

GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines now have more than 2,000 engineers globally supporting development of RISE program technologies and continue to hire.