Rolls-Royce looks forward to Farnborough International Airshow

The Rolls-Royce Civil Aerospace team is gearing up for a busy week at the Farnborough International Airshow, as the flagship industry event prepares to open its doors tomorrow. 

Commenting on the occasion, Chris Cholerton, Rolls-Royce, President – Civil Aerospace, said: “Farnborough is a highlight of the aerospace calendar and it’s a real pleasure to be back here, demonstrating the best of Rolls-Royce.

“A huge amount has happened in the two years since the last Farnborough Airshow. We have introduced no fewer than four engines to the market, the Trent 1000 TEN, the Trent XWB-97, the Pearl 15 and the Trent 7000, which of course is making its debut appearance here at Farnborough, powering the Airbus A330neo.”

“But we have faced some significant challenges too, notably with our Trent 1000 fleet. We sincerely regret the disruption caused by the need for additional checks and maintenance on these engines and we continue to be intensely focused on resolving the issues our customers face. 

“We have now begun certification testing of the redesigned rotor blade for Trent 1000 Package C engines, with redesigns for other Trent 1000 engines following closely behind. Starting certification testing marks an important step towards returning these engines to the levels of service our customers rightly expect.

“From trebling our maintenance capacity in a matter of months to accelerating the development of the redesigned parts, Rolls-Royce teams from across the world have come together to respond to this issue and we will continue to work relentlessly for our customers in the coming months.”

Looking forward, Chris Cholerton added, “Our strong position on new widebody aircraft is driving substantial growth across our civil aerospace business. Customer feedback on the Trent XWB-84 on the A350-900 has been very positive and the Trent XWB-97 is now powering three Airbus A350-1000 aircraft in service, and is doing so with full ETOPs capability. The Trent 1000 TEN fleet continues to power a growing fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft and we’re looking forward to the Trent 7000 receiving full certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) imminently. Recognising some of the recent issues we’ve experienced in parts of our fleet, all of our engines entering service today are supported by enhanced maturity testing to provide early identification of any areas for further improvement and to ensure the best possible service reliability.

“We remain on track to deliver a record number of engines this year and we are supporting this growth with investment in our facilities, including the development of a new testbed in Derby, UK, as part of a wider £150m investment across the UK. All of these achievements drive us further towards our goal of achieving more than 50% market share in the widebody sector by the early 2020s, up from just 14% in 2000.”

Focusing on future opportunities, Chris Cholerton commented, “Our Advance core and UltraFan® engine technology demonstration programmes also continue to make excellent progress. Earlier this month our Advance3 demonstrator ran at full power for the first time, marking an important milestone in our progress towards bringing our UltraFan engine to life. 

The UltraFan will power Rolls-Royce into the next decade and, along with other advanced technologies such as a record-breaking high-power gearbox, the Advance core will help the engine deliver a 25% engine fuel efficiency improvement compared with the first generation of Trent engines.

“Our engine development programmes aren’t limited to the widebody sector though. In May we celebrated the launch of the Pearl family of engines which will serve to reaffirm our leading position in business aviation, starting with the Pearl 15 which will power the Bombardier Global 5500 and Global 6500.

“We are also looking further into the future with the pioneering investments the Group is making into electrification. Combined with the rapid progress we’re making in bringing our IntelligentEngine vision to life, we continue to pioneer new technology.”

In closing, Chris Cholerton added, “While our immediate focus must be to eliminate the disruption in our fleet, we are confident in the investments we are making in our future. We have an excellent portfolio of new engines to be proud of as well as an exciting pipeline of future technology. We look forward to a successful week.”

As well as a wide variety of Rolls-Royce powered aircraft on display, Rolls-Royce will be exhibiting in Hall 4, Stand 41394. With a focus on the IntelligentEngine, UltraFan and the new Pearl family of engines, our fully-digital stand promises to be a great advert for the exciting times ahead at Rolls-Royce.