Rolls Royce Trent engine may lose market share after Qantas A380 incident: Analysts
11 Dec 2010
Shortly after take off from Singapore on 4 November, a Qantas A380 jetliner developed a technical problem, leading to a fire and a chain of failures resulting in heavy parts flying off an engine of the plane.
Subsequent investigations into the incident pointed to an oil leak as the cause of the fire, which analysts say is the most serious safety problem for the world's largest and newest jetliner.
A new analysis suggests that the cost to Rolls-Royce from the engine blow-out on the Qantas airliner would exceed public estimates and the British company may be expected to lose market share.
According to analysts, the event and its aftermath might impact the marketability of the Trent 900 which could extract a cost in terms of market share and pricing.
The company said in a statement last month that its underlying profit growth this year would be "slightly below" 4 per cent to 5 per cent because of the engine incident, which led to the Qantas A380 making an emergency landing when one of its four Rolls Trent 900 engines exploded.
According to market estimates based on Rolls' guidance, the cost would be around £50 million this year, but some analysts say it was "very unlikely" that this would cover the impact and further costs would have to be recognised in 2011.
