Rolls-Royce boosted by Japan Airlines’ new Airbus deal
AERO engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce is set to benefit from a new contract which has seen Japan Airlines order 31 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft.
The airline has selected two variants of the airliner – 18 A350-900s and 13 A350-1000s. All will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines.
The deal, worth almost £6bn to Airbus, is the largest order this year for the A350 and one of the aircraft manufacturer’s biggest ever contract wins in Japan. It is also a significant blow to rival Boeing, which has previously dominated Japan’s civil aviation sector.
The deal could yet extend to a further 25 planes should JAL exercise all its options.
The Trent XWB, specifically designed for the Airbus A350 XWB, is the fastest selling Trent engine ever, with more than 1,400 already on order. It powered the first test flight of the A350 XWB at Toulouse earlier this year.
Rolls-Royce said the Trent XWB engine benefited from a close partnership with Japanese partners Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), IHI Corporation, and Sumitomo Precision Products (SPP) as well as other Japanese suppliers.
KHI manufactures the Intermediate Pressure Compressor (IPC) module, MHI manufactures combustion modules, low-pressure turbine blades and intermediate pressure turbine discs, IHI Corporation manufactures Intermediate Pressure Turbine (IPT) shafts, Intermediate Pressure Combustor (IPC) rear stub shafts and low pressure fan shafts and SPP designs and manufactures the heat management system.
Elsewhere, Rolls-Royce has also been awarded two contracts worth a combined value up to $496m (£310m) to support T56 engines on US government aircraft.
Under a $406m (£254m), six-year contract, Rolls-Royce will provide parts, plus field and engineering support, for thousands of T56 engines. The contract was awarded by the Defense Logistics Agency and will support approximately 1,000 C-130, P-3 and C-2 aircraft in service with the US Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Customs and Border Control and international fleets.
A separate contract from the US Navy for up to $90m (£56m) includes engine repairs for E-2 Hawkeye aircraft, which are powered by two T56-A-427 engines. The five-year contract is renewable annually and is valued at $17m for the first year.
Paul Craig, Rolls-Royce, President Defense Services, said: “These contracts demonstrate our continued success in supporting our customers and the thousands of Rolls-Royce T56 engines powering their operations. Our mission remains the same: to keep these fleets in the air as their operators require, and we will continue to focus on innovative solutions to provide affordable support for our customers.”
