Rolls Royce : To Power 65 Airasia X Aircraft

ROLLS-ROYCE SELECTED TO POWER 65 AIRASIA X AIRCRAFT WITH ENGINES

WORTH $6.2BN

Rolls-Royce has been selected by AirAsia X to power 10 Airbus A330ceo and 55 Airbus A330neo aircraft with engines and long-term TotalCare® support worth $6.2bn.

The A330ceos will be powered by the market-leading Trent 700 and the A330neos will be powered by the recently-launched Trent 7000 engine.

In July this year, Rolls-Royce welcomed an initial AirAsia X decision to select 50 A330neo aircraft. The airline had previously ordered 25 A330ceos, powered by another provider, and this has now been altered to ten aircraft, powered by the Trent 700.

It is the largest order for the Trent 7000 engine since it was launched earlier this year. A total of 132 A330neos have now been selected by airlines and lessors.

The selection takes the firm AirAsia X A330ceo/A330neo fleet to 96, including aircraft sourced from operating leases, which will make the airline the largest operator of the A330 family. All are powered by Rolls-Royce engines.

Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Co-Founder and Director of AirAsia X, said: "We are making a significant fleet expansion with A330ceo and A330neo aircraft and it is great to have Rolls-Royce on board for both. The Trent 700 and A330ceo remains a great combination and will give us real continuity as we move forward to the A330neo and Trent 7000."

Eric Schulz, Rolls-Royce, President - Civil Large Engines said: "This is a significant decision from a customer that continues to grow and look to the future. Whichever type of A330 operators want to select, the Trent is the natural choice for the best economics."  

The Trent 700 has won 67 per cent of new orders over the last three years and accounts for a similar percentage on future A330ceo deliveries. More than 1,500 Trent 700s are now in service or on firm order, making it the largest in-service Trent engine.

The Trent 7000 brings together:

·    Experience from the Trent 700 - the engine of choice for the current A330

·    Architecture and technology from the Trent 1000 TEN - the latest version of the Trent 1000 engine

The 68-72,000lb thrust Trent 7000 will deliver significant performance benefits compared to the current version of the Trent 700. It will improve specific fuel consumption by ten per cent; have twice the bypass ratio; and will halve noise.

About Rolls-Royce Holdings plc

1.   The order announced today will result in an increase in the Group's order book of $3.7bn, in accordance with Group accounting policy.

2.   Rolls-Royce's vision is to create better power for a changing world via two main business segments, Aerospace and Land & Sea. These business segments address markets with two strong technology platforms, gas turbines and reciprocating engines. Aerospace comprises Civil Aerospace and Defence Aerospace. Land & Sea comprises Marine, Nuclear and Power Systems.

3.   Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 120 countries, comprising more than 380 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers, including 70 navies, and 1,200 power and nuclear customers.

4.   Our business is focused on the 4Cs:

·     Customer - placing the customer at the heart of our business

·     Concentration - deciding where to grow and where not to

·     Cost - continually looking to increase efficiency

·     Cash - improving financial performance.

5.   Annual underlying revenue was £15.5 billion in 2013, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at £70.4 billion at 30 June 2014.

6.   In 2013, Rolls-Royce invested £1.1 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.

7.   Rolls-Royce employs over 55,000 people in 45 countries. Over 17,000 of these are engineers. The Energy businesses transferred to Siemens in December 2014 have just under 2,100 permanent employees.

8.   The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills. In 2013 we employed 379 graduates and 288 apprentices through our worldwide training programmes. Globally we have over 1,000 Rolls-Royce STEM ambassadors who are actively involved in education programmes and activities; we have set ourselves a target to reach 6 million people through our STEM outreach activities by 2020.

For further information, please contact:

Investors:  

Jilinda Crowley                                                                       

Acting Director - Investor Relations                                       

Rolls-Royce plc                                                                     

Tel: +44 (0)20 7227 9241                                                      

jilinda.crowley@rolls-royce.com 

Media:

Richard Wray

Director of External Communications

Rolls-Royce plc

Tel:      +44 (0)20 7227 9163

Mobile +44 (0)7974 918 416

Email:  richard.wray@rolls-royce.com

www.Rolls-Royce.com