Friday, 18 March 2011

Rolls-Royce wins first Trent 900 engine order since Qantas A380 failure, from Asiana Airlines

ROLLS-ROYCE has won its first new order for the Trent 900 since the failure of one of the engines on a Qantas A380 flight forced to land in Singapore last year.

Asiana Airlines, the South Korean carrier, said that it had ordered Trent 900s for six A380s in a deal that is likely to be worth more than $US1 billion.

The order will be a relief to Rolls-Royce after the Qantas incident shook the aviation industry's confidence in the massive engine.

The incident occurred on November 4 last year when an engine on a Qantas jet with 469 people on board suffered a blowout. It was forced to make an emergency landing in Singapore.

Australian air safety regulators later described the Qantas jet as a "flying wreck" after the explosion, which was traced to a fuel leak in the turbine housing. The regulators said that the leak was the result of a "potential manufacturing defect" and ordered checks on all Trent 900 engines.
Rolls is in competition with the Engine Alliance, a joint venture between General Electric and Pratt & Whitney, to supply engines for the A380, a double-decker aircraft built by Airbus.

Rolls has secured orders from ten of the 15 airlines that have ordered the A380 but Emirates, which will have the largest fleet, is an Engine Alliance customer.

As a result, Rolls will have slightly lower market share than the Engine Alliance and there were fears that the Qantas incident could encourage carriers to choose the rival engine in future competitions.

Jim Sheard, senior vice-president of civil aerospace at Rolls-Royce, said: "We are very pleased that Asiana has put their trust in Trent 900 technology that will deliver significant operational and environmental benefits.

"This confirms the Trent 900 as the true market leader and engine of choice for the majority of A380 operators and marks a further deepening of our relationship with Asiana Airlines."

Rolls-Royce said in January that British Airways had bought the Trent 900 for its A380s, although the deal had been announced previously.

By
Monika Jain



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