Rolls-Royce is celebrating its 60th anniversary in business aviation at NBAA, having first entered the sector in 1958 powering the Gulfstream I with the Dart turboprop.
The UK engine maker reaffirmed its commitment to the business aviation world with the recent launch of the Pearl 15 turbofan to power Bombardier’s Global 5500 and Global 6500 superwide cabin business jets.
R-R has delivered more than 7,000 engines in the business aviation market, powering aircraft such the early HS125s and Gulfstreams, as well as the Bombardier Global series. Today about 3,000 of these aircraft are in service worldwide. The first member of the latest addition, the Pearl 15, received European certification on 28 February.
The Pearl trial programme has completed 10,000 test cycles in over 2,600 testing hours to date. Six Pearl 15 development engines with 14 builds have been used in 27 test campaigns. These include tests under extreme icing conditions, massive water ingestions, lightning strikes and long-lasting maturity runs.
The Dahlewitz site in Germany has begun building the first production standard engines and is preparing for the production ramp-up. Maturity testing is on track to support a service-entry at the end of 2019.
Rolls-Royce has further expanded its global network of Authorised Service Centres (ASC) for its CorporateCare customers. The latest additions include West Star Aviation, with its US site in East Alton, Illinois; the Gulfstream St. Louis Service Center in Cahokia, Illinois; and Metrojet, Hong Kong.
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Source: FlightGlobal.com
