Rolls-Royce wins $1.8b engine order from Air China

Rolls-Royce has won its second big engine contract since its safety scare with a US$1.8 billion deal with Air China, reported The Guardian.

The deal is to supply engines for 20 new wide-bodied Airbus aircraft for Air China. The engines are different from the Trent 900 model used on the Airbus "superjumbo" that exploded in mid-air but are part of the same Trent family.

The contract follows the $1.2 billion engine deal this month with China Eastern Airlines, which was struck during the government's trade delegation visit to the country.

Rolls-Royce said that following this second deal, the company now supplies more than half or 56 percent of engines for new large airliners in China.

The Air China contract is to supply Trent XWB engines for 10 A350 planes and Trent 700 engines for 10 A330s. The company said that it confirmed its position as market leader for the A330, securing three-quarters of new orders over the last three years.

Rolls-Royce is hoping that it has succeeded in drawing a line under the crisis sparked by the engine failures, which at its most serious saw its shares slump 10 percent.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)