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Rolls-Royce working on largest jet engine

LONDON - Rolls-Royce Holdings, the sole engine provider on the Airbus A350 due to fly for the first time in days, will begin testing parts of its most powerful engine yet as demand rebounds for the plane’s stretch version.

The engine for the A350-1000, the largest version, will be an upgrade of the turbine now installed on the test plane Airbus is preparing for first flight, said Chris Young, Rolls’ programme director. An engine to show output can grow to 97,000 pounds of thrust from 84,000 pounds will run soon, he said.

Rolls-Royce’s stakes are high on the Airbus long-range plane, where it remains the only engine provider with exclusivity rights on the -1000 type.

The large jet, which aims to take on the Boeing 777-300ER powered by General Electric, has booked a series of commitments from Cathay Pacific Airways and British Airways after previously slower sales.

“The -1000 is really starting to gain market acceptance,” Young said. “It is all about growing the engine now to 97,000 pounds of thrust.”

The TrentXWB-97, as the A350-1000s turbine is called, will introduce a larger engine core, new coatings and a novel adaptive coating system to deliver the enhanced performance, Young said.

Many of those technologies will be demonstrated this year using a current-standard engine, before the first proper model enters testing next year, he said.

Wide-body reliance

Rolls-Royce has bet heavily on the large airliner market after reducing its role in the single-aisle segment last year with the exit from the International Aero Engines joint venture. The new Airbus long-range jet has been its most successful program, with sales to power more than 600 planes, including 110 A350-1000s.

Like the current A350-900 engine, the larger version will first fly on an Airbus A380 where one of four Trent 900 superjumbo engines will be replaced with a TrentXWB to gather data. The A350-1000’s maiden flight is due 2016, Young said.