Rolls-Royce has recruited US maintenance specialist StandardAero as a support provider for the RB211-535E4 engines which power Boeing 757s.
The UK engine maker says that StandardAero’s facility in San Antonio, Texas, will offer a full range of MRO services for the turbofan from early 2019.
Around 1,000 of the relevant RB211s are in service today, with half of that fleet operating in North America, notes R-R. The manufacturer forecasts that the engine variant will remain in service until 2040.
StandardAero already supports, at its San Antonio site, R-R T56 turboprop engines, which power military Lockheed Martin C-130 transports and P-3 maritime surveillance aircraft.
The RB211-535E4 will be the "highest thrust engine" among the commercial powerplants serviced by StandardAero, says Peter Turner, president of the MRO provider’s airlines and fleets division. He states winning the long-term agreement is testament to StandardAero’s "strong customer relationships [and] trusted service partnerships".
R-R says it recruited StandardAero to support the legacy powerplant as part of a strategy to "develop a competitive, capable and flexible network to meet the changing needs of customers across the lifecycle of engines and to support the growing Trent engine fleet".
Over recent years, the manufacturer has signed agreements with maintenance partners – including Air France-KLM’s engineering arm, Delta TechOps and Abu Dhabi's investment fund Mubadala – in an effort to expand MRO capacity for current Trent-series engines.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
