Hard talks bring R-R aboard

Rolls-Royce has agreed with Airbus to develop the Trent 1700 for the A350, but only after protracted negotiations believed to centre on the terms initially agreed between General Electric and Airbus.

GE is contributing funding towards the A350 and was named “preferred supplier” with its GEnx aboard the new aircraft (Flight International, 20-26 September). The UK company says “we never discuss contractual details”, but confirms it is involved in “more than half a dozen” sales campaigns and hopes to tie up its first firm customers before the end of the year. The Trent 1700, like the Trent 1000 powering the Boeing 787, is being developed without UK government financing.

The principal difference between the Trent 1000 and 1700 is the installation of bleed air offtakes for the A350 air-conditioning system. R-R says it will develop new engine casings for the Trent 1700 to provide for the ducts, but otherwise the mechanical configuration of the engine will be identical to that of the Trent 1000 powering the 787.

“For the A350 we’re providing a 4% increase in core airflow to cater for the bleed air requirement,” says R-R head of marketing, Airbus programmes, Alistair Coast-Smith. He says the Trent 1700 will benefit from its later entry into service with the incorporation of new technologies from its Vision 10 research.

Source: Flight International