CFM International, the GE-Snecma Moteurs joint venture, was created in 1974 out of the shared vision of Gerhard Neumann, the jet engine pioneer who headed GE Aircraft Engines for decades beginning in the 1950s, and Rene Ravaud, the French resistance hero who led the French company.

Over the last 30 years the partnership, heralded as a model of international business collaboration, has come to dominate the engine market for the 130- to 150-seat jets.

Nearly 15,000 CFM56 engines have been assembled in either Evendale or at Snecma's plant in Villaroche, France, by the partners.

On the eve of CFMI's annual media briefing Monday, Pierre Fabre, president and CEO, talks about the partnership.

WHY HAS THIS joint venture worked so well?

It works because first there was a market. Neumann and Ravaud saw there was a niche for the new high-bypass engine technology in the medium-sized aircraft market.

It wasn't an immediate success. It took five years to land the first order to re-engine DC-8 Series 60 aircraft for several customers and then a U.S. Air Force re-engine contract for the KC-135 tanker. The engine was then picked to power the Boeing 737-300, which was a big seller.

HOW HAS THE partnership maintained its edge in the market after 30 years?

It's much easier to manage a success than a failure. Now that it is a success for GE and Snecma, it has to work.

Secondly, Neumann and Ravaud devised a partnership that is extremely efficient. The concept is we share the revenue 50-50 but not the profits. That means every time GE improves productivity and efficiency, it goes to GE's results. The same for Snecma.

It's a very lean and efficient structure - that's the other reason it works.

There are only four people, including myself, working exclusively for CFMI. All the rest is done by GE or Snecma people who also have roles with those companies.

YOU WERE FORTUNATE to have market trends at your back.

Our project came right as airline deregulation was happening in the United States. That helped generate a huge demand for these types of 130- to 150-seat planes.

HAS THE PARTNERSHIP changed Snecma?

CFM has completely transformed Snecma. It moved from being strictly a military-engine supplier to mainly a commercial-engine supplier.

Mike Boyer