Rolls-Royce warns of more engine woes
ENGINE MAKER Rolls-Royce has warned over customer disruption and higher costs as it carries out additional inspections on some Trent 1000 engines.
In March, the engineering firm revealed a charge of around £340m for repairs on existing engines, but on Friday it said the requirement for more regular inspections will lead to “higher than previously guided cash costs”.
Last month it said up to 500 Trent 1000 engines – used on Boeing 787 planes – were affected by the issues, which see components wear out earlier than expected.
Rolls said that 380 Package C engines, which are under review, are currently in service with airlines, but added that the Trent 1000 Package B and Trent 1000 TEN are not impacted.
Rolls said on Friday: “As part of our ongoing inspection and testing of those engines we have decided to carry out additional engine inspections to those previously planned.
“These inspections will be supported by service management and flight operations guidance to airlines to be issued by the airworthiness authorities.
“This will unfortunately lead to additional disruption for our customers.”
The group said that the move is driven by its further understanding of the durability of the Trent 1000 Package C compressor.
Nevertheless, Rolls confirmed its free-cash-flow guidance for the year at around £450m.
Chief executive Warren East said: “Our focus is on supporting our customers and doing all we can to minimise any impact on their operations.
“We sincerely regret the disruption this will cause to our customers and our team of technical experts and service engineers are working around the clock to ensure we return them to full service as soon as possible.
“We will be working closely with Boeing and affected airlines to minimise disruption wherever possible.”
Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 150 countries, including around 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, and 4,000 marine customers. The company’s annual underlying revenue was £15bn in 2017. In 2017, Rolls-Royce invested £1.4bn on research and development.
The company also supports a global network of 31 university technology centres as part of a strategy to place Rolls Royce at the forefront of research. It employs almost 50,000 people in 50 countries. More than 16,500 of these are engineers.
In 2016, it recruited 274 graduates and 327 apprentices through its worldwide training programmes.
Rolls-Royce has a significant presence in the region, employing several hundred people at the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham where it produces single crystal turbine blades.
Mr East became chief executive of Rolls Royce in July 2015. Before joining, he transformed chip designer ARM Holdings into a global firm.