Rolls Royce to open new engine facilities in Asia and US

London: Global engine giant, Rolls Royce Plc, has announced plans to invest GBP150 million over the next five years in two new aero-engine facilities in Singapore and the US.

In a statement the company pointed out the attractions of locating major facilities close to customers in two of the largest and fastest growing aerospace markets in the world, the business continuity benefits that will arise from locating the assembly and test of Trent engines on two continents, and a reduction in the company''s exposure to the dollar.

Rolls Royce chief executive John Rose said in a statement that the investments "are further evidence of our success in aerospace markets and the continuing trend towards the globalisation of our operations."

Rolls Royce will now build a new facility in Singapore, which will assemble and test large engines, starting with the Trent 1000 for the Boeing 787 and the Trent XWB for the Airbus A350 XWB. Along with its existing UK facility in Derby, England, this will provide the company with a dual sourcing capability for the assembly and test of large engines, including future versions of the Trent engine.

The facility will be located in an aerospace park at Seletar in the north of Singapore and will be fully operational by the end of 2009, employing up to 330 people.

A new facility in the US state of Virginia will assemble and test the RB282, the engine selected in June by Dassault Aviation SA to power its new super midsize corporate jet and potentially the first in a family of small engines for the corporate and regional jet market.

The US facility is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2009.

Rolls Royce, which employs 38,000 people across 50 countries, has a 49 per cent share of the modern wide-body commercial aircraft market and is the leading provider of engines for business jets, with a 34 per cent share of the market.