Boeing, Safran form venture to make auxiliary aircraft engines

(Reuters) - Planemaker Boeing Co and French aerospace firm Safran SA will join forces to make and service auxiliary power units (APUs), used to start aircraft engines and run other aircraft systems.

Both companies will have a 50 percent stake in the U.S.-based venture, the companies said.

Safran already makes APUs, a small but important part of jet engine systems, and currently supplies a wide range of components to Boeing commercial and defense programs.

(Reporting by Arunima Banerjee in Bengaluru and Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)