Airbus has secured extended twin-engined operations clearance beyond 3h for the A350-1000.
The -1000 is the larger of the two A350 family variants, and is powered by the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engine.
Rolls-Royce obtained initial certification for the XWB-97 from the European Aviation Safety Agency at the end of August last year.
EASA subsequently granted 120min ETOPS approval to the A350-1000 in February this year, and 180min approval in mid-June.
But type certificate documentation from the regulator shows this was upgraded to beyond-180min clearance on 6 July.
EASA lists a maximum diversion duration of 420min for the Trent XWB-97, including 405min at maximum continuous thrust plus 15min at hold thrust.
Three A350-1000s have been delivered, comprising two for Qatar Airways – the more recent on 30 June – and a single aircraft for Cathay Pacific.
EASA approved the smaller A350-900 for beyond-180min ETOPS in October 2014.
Rolls-Royce says the Trent XWB has newly surpassed an accumulated 2 million flight hours, shortly after the company took total deliveries of the powerplant family to 500 engines.
“We have enjoyed the smoothest entry into service of any widebody engine and we continue to see the engine achieving market-leading levels of reliability,” says Trent XWB programme director Gareth Davies.
Rolls-Royce says the engine has achieved despatch reliability of 99.9% and zero in-flight shutdowns.
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Source: Cirium Dashboard
