Rolls-Royce bags $1.8 billion engine order from Air China
22 Nov 2010
Rolls-Royce, the world's second-largest maker of aircraft engines behind General Electric, has bagged an order worth £1.1 billion ($1.8 billion) at list prices to supply engines to Air China for 20 Airbus long-haul aircraft.
The order from Air China is for its Trent XWB engines for 10 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft and Trent 700 engines for 10 Airbus A330 planes.
The order comes after early this month Air China's rival China Eastern Airlines placed a $1.2-billion order from Rolls-Royce.
The order also comes after the London-based aircraft engine maker was hit by safety concerns after one of its engines exploded in mid-air this month and forced a Qantas Airline plane to make an emergency landing in Singapore.
The incident made Qantas, which has Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines on its Airbus planes, to ground its fleet of A380 jets.
He Li, Air China senior vice president, said in the statement that his company looked forward to "bringing the Trent XWB into service with our airline to provide us with fuel-efficient power for the A350 XWB and adding to our Trent 700-powered fleet.
"We have now selected this engine on four separate occasions. Our Trent-powered fleet now stands at 78 aircraft either in service or on order," he added.
Steve Miller, Rolls-Royce's civil aerospace vice president, said "we are very proud that Air China has again put their trust in us" with another contract.
