Benjamin Katz and Lena Lee
A Singapore Airlines jet at Changi Airport, Singapore. Picture: ROSIAN RAHMAN/AFP
London
— Rolls-Royce Holdings said it will accelerate a programme to install
redesigned blades on some of its Trent 1000 engines, after early wear
forced Singapore Airlines to ground two 787 aircraft using the turbines.
The latest setback for the Trent 1000 TEN, used on Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets, came after the
UK enginemaker sampled a small number of the global fleet that had “flown in more arduous conditions”, Rolls said on Tuesday.
The company said it will work closely with customers that are affected as it tests “an enhanced version of this blade”.
A Rolls spokesman did not say how many aircraft are affected, identify other customers or give details of the blades’ shortened life. The company said in February that about 35 Dreamliners remained grounded and that it aimed to reduce that number to about 10 by the end of 2019.
Design glitches
Design glitches have plagued the Trent programme since 2016, leading to about $1.7bn in charges, while eating into Rolls-Royce’s share of turbines for 787 jets against rival enginemaker General Electric. The company said in 2018 the intermediate-pressure turbine blades — which had already been flagged for replacement — were not lasting long enough to meet the previously set maintenance schedule.
Regulators have at times limited how far the aircraft can fly from an airport, which has forced airlines to reroute some long-distance flights.
Rolls’s efforts to redesign the blade have taken longer than expected, which has affected the latest TEN variant. The same blade is used on the Trent 7000, which powers the Airbus SE A330neo.
The latest setback for the Trent 1000 TEN, used on Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets, came after the
UK enginemaker sampled a small number of the global fleet that had “flown in more arduous conditions”, Rolls said on Tuesday.
The company said it will work closely with customers that are affected as it tests “an enhanced version of this blade”.
A Rolls spokesman did not say how many aircraft are affected, identify other customers or give details of the blades’ shortened life. The company said in February that about 35 Dreamliners remained grounded and that it aimed to reduce that number to about 10 by the end of 2019.
Design glitches
Design glitches have plagued the Trent programme since 2016, leading to about $1.7bn in charges, while eating into Rolls-Royce’s share of turbines for 787 jets against rival enginemaker General Electric. The company said in 2018 the intermediate-pressure turbine blades — which had already been flagged for replacement — were not lasting long enough to meet the previously set maintenance schedule.
Regulators have at times limited how far the aircraft can fly from an airport, which has forced airlines to reroute some long-distance flights.
Rolls’s efforts to redesign the blade have taken longer than expected, which has affected the latest TEN variant. The same blade is used on the Trent 7000, which powers the Airbus SE A330neo.
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Shares of Rolls-Royce fell as much as 2.7%, and were down 1.8% to 900.6p in mid-morning trading penceat 10.37am in London. Singapore Air rose 0.4% to S$9.76 Singapore dollar in the city-state.
Singapore Air said it found “premature blade deterioration” during routine inspections of some aircraft engines, leading the carrier to ground two 787-10 aircraft. In consultation with Rolls, identified other Trent 1000 TEN engines in its 787 fleet to undergo precautionary inspections, Singapore Airlines said in a separate statement. All these inspections have been concluded, and a remaining check will be completed on a 787-9 aircraft of its Scoot budget carrier by Wednesday.
For Boeing, idling more of its Dreamliners — the Chicago-based manufacturer’s most advanced twin-aisle aircraft — comes at an inopportune time. It The US aircraft makeris grappling with a global grounding of its best-selling 737 Max narrow-body after two crashes raised safety concerns with regulators.
Singapore Air said it is working closely with Rolls-Royce and authorities for any additional actions and precautionary measures that may be required.
Customers of Dreamliners include Japan’s ANA Holdings Inc., Air New Zealand, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways and Norwegian Air Shuttle.
Bloomberg
(Updates with Rolls-Royce shares in fifth paragraph.)
— With assistance from Lucca de Paoli, Kyunghee Park and Ville Heiskanen.
To contact the reporters on this story: Benjamin Katz in London at bkatz38@bloomberg.net;Lena Lee in Singapore at llee42@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, ;Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net, Andrew Noël
For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Singapore Air said it found “premature blade deterioration” during routine inspections of some aircraft engines, leading the carrier to ground two 787-10 aircraft. In consultation with Rolls, identified other Trent 1000 TEN engines in its 787 fleet to undergo precautionary inspections, Singapore Airlines said in a separate statement. All these inspections have been concluded, and a remaining check will be completed on a 787-9 aircraft of its Scoot budget carrier by Wednesday.
For Boeing, idling more of its Dreamliners — the Chicago-based manufacturer’s most advanced twin-aisle aircraft — comes at an inopportune time. It The US aircraft makeris grappling with a global grounding of its best-selling 737 Max narrow-body after two crashes raised safety concerns with regulators.
Singapore Air said it is working closely with Rolls-Royce and authorities for any additional actions and precautionary measures that may be required.
Customers of Dreamliners include Japan’s ANA Holdings Inc., Air New Zealand, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways and Norwegian Air Shuttle.
Bloomberg
(Updates with Rolls-Royce shares in fifth paragraph.)
— With assistance from Lucca de Paoli, Kyunghee Park and Ville Heiskanen.
To contact the reporters on this story: Benjamin Katz in London at bkatz38@bloomberg.net;Lena Lee in Singapore at llee42@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, ;Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net, Andrew Noël
For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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