Wednesday, 29 June 2016

Rolls-Royce today congratulated Ethiopian Airlines on becoming Africa's first operator of the Airbus A350 XWB, powered by the world's most efficient large civil aero engine, the Trent XWB.

The aircraft flew from Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, to Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, Ethiopia.

The Rolls-RoyceTrent XWB is the only engine that powers the A350 XWB and more than 1,600 engines have already been sold to 42 customers.

The A350 XWB delivers a 25 per cent fuel burn improvement compared to previous generation aircraft. The Trent XWB is also one of the quietest engines that Rolls-Roycehas ever produced for the wide-body market.

Ethiopian Airlines has ordered a total of 14 A350 XWBs, two on lease from AerCap.

Ato Tewolde Gebremariam, Ethiopian Airlines, Chief Executive Officer, said: 'This is a significant moment in the history of our airline as we become Africa's first operator of the Airbus A350 XWB. The Trent XWB helps this aircraft deliver outstanding service and set new standards for passenger experience, efficiency and reliability. We thank our partners at Rolls-Roycefor their support and look forward to a continued and successful partnership'

Tom Williams, Airbus, Chief Operating Officer, said: 'Ethiopian Airlines has a proud reputation for excellence in operation and customer service. We at Airbus are equally proud that our A350 XWB is the platform that will re-enforce this. We are celebrating the delivery of Africa's first A350 XWB and we congratulate Ethiopian Airlines, AerCap and Rolls-Royceon this achievement.'

Simon Burr, Rolls-Royce, Director Engineering and Technology - Civil Aerospace, said: 'We are very proud to be with Ethiopian Airlines and Airbus today to celebrate another milestone in the global A350 XWB story. We are honoured to support Ethiopian Airlines' growth plans, powering new aircraft that deliver new levels of service.'

Trent XWB - incredible engineering by numbers:

  • The fan is nearly 10ft feet across - its diameter is larger than the fuselage of Concorde
  • It sucks in up to 1.3 tonnes of air, the equivalent of a squash court, every second at take-off.
  • The force on a fan blade at take-off is equivalent to a load of almost 90 tons, the same as nine London buses hanging off each blade.
  • High pressure turbine blades inside the engine rotate at 12,500 rpm, with their tips reaching 1,200mph - twice the speed of sound.
  • At take off each of the engine's 68 high pressure turbine blades generates around 900 horsepower per blade - the equivalent to that of a Formula One racing car.
  • At full power air leaves the nozzle at the back of the engine travelling at almost 1000mph.

About Rolls-RoyceHoldings plc

  1. Rolls-Royce's vision is to be the market-leader in high performance power systems where our engineering expertise, global reach and deep industry knowledge deliver outstanding customer relationships and solutions. We operate across five businesses: Civil Aerospace, Defence Aerospace, Marine, Nuclear and Power Systems.
  2. Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 120 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers including 70 navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.
  3. We have three common themes across all our businesses:
    • Investing in and developing engineering excellence
    • Driving a manufacturing and supply chain transformation which will embed operational excellence in lean, lower-cost facilities and processes
    • Leveraging our installed base, product knowledge and engineering capabilities to provide customers with outstanding service through which we can capture aftermarket value long into the future.
  5. Annual underlying revenue was £13.4 billion in 2015, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at £76.4 billion at the end of 2015.
  6. In 2015, Rolls-Royceinvested £1.2 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royceengineers at the forefront of scientific research.
  7. Rolls-Royce employs over 50,000 people in more than 46 countries. Nearly 15,700 of these are engineers.
  8. The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills. In 2015 we employed 228 graduates and 277 apprentices through our worldwide training programmes.

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Rolls-Royce Holdings plc published this content on 29 June 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 29 June 2016 16:20:06 UTC.

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