Northwest Airlines maintenance VP Gil West (l) and Snecma Services chairman and CEO Marc Ventre as Northwest, the fourth-biggest U.S. carrier, signed a contract here with the French firm for maintenance, repair and overhaul of the airline's CFM56 engines.

Northwest has 168 CFM56-5A5 and ­5A3s on 68 Airbus A319s and 12 additional A320s now on order. The new pact is a natural extension of a 13-year ESPH (engine service per hour) contract, signed in November 1997, by which Snecma Services supports CFM56-5A1 and ­5A3s on Northwest's 70 A320s.

"The contract expansion further confirms Northwest's confidence in Snecma Services' ability to combine high quality with reduced costs, and reflects the constructive spirit of teamwork by the two countries over the first two years of the ESPH contract," Snecma said.