Rolls-Royce has signed a new agreement with Boeing to advance the development of its planned Trent 8104 growth engine by a further four months, to meet a September 2000 delivery date for the first 777-200X.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) covers the development of a Trent 800 derivative engine, flat-rated at 454kN (102,000lb) of Boeing-equivalent thrust. The powerplant will be available to meet a 777-200X initial entry-in-service date of September 2000 now being proposed to prospective launch customers Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Malaysia Airlines (MAS).
It supersedes a now-expired MoU signed with Boeing, which called for the development of a 445kN Trent 8100 for delivery in early 2001. MAS has been pushing for R-R to match the earlier September 2000 schedule agreed to by Pratt & Whitney for the lower-thrust PW4098 being offered to Korean Air on the 777-200X (Flight International, 7-13 May, P8).
MAS and SIA each require larger 454kN engines for the 777-200X to operate flights from South-East Asia to the US West Coast. The extra thrust, in particular, is needed for take-offs from a runway at Los Angeles International Airport which is effectively limited to a length of 5,490m (12,100ft) by a nearby sand dune.
R-R had been reluctant to commit to the earlier date because of concern over intervening development time between the 8104 and smaller Trent 500 for the Airbus A340-500/600. With the first 250kN Trent 500 not now due to enter service before 2002, the company has agreed to compress development and certification of the 8104 by another four months.
Boeing is expected to submit new proposals to SIA towards the end of August, having earlier failed to convince the airline that the 777-200X meets its full payload/range performance between Singapore and Los Angeles. Airbus, in the meantime, has just presented SIA with a competing proposal for an increased-gross-weight version of the A340-500.
Source: Flight International
