Aerospace

Rolls-Royce's Trent XWB reaches maintenance milestone

Posted 11 August 2020

Rolls-Royce's Trent XWB-84 is delivering unequalled on-wing reliability with the early batch of engines successfully reaching their planned time on wing, with the first engines approaching their first scheduled shop visits, around five years after entering into service on the Airbus A350.

Image courtesy Rolls-Royce

These Trent XWB engines have travelled an average 14 million kilometres with no unplanned maintenance and record low levels of in-flight disruption.

During routine inspections as part of these scheduled shop visits, Rolls-Royce have identified indications of wear in the Intermediate Pressure Compressor (IPC) of a small number of engines that have been in service for four to five years and are approaching their first overhaul. None of these engines have experienced any abnormal in-flight operation, however Rolls-Royce are inspecting all other Trent XWB-84 engines of a similar service life as a precaution.

Given the limited scale of additional work which we anticipate will be required at existing shop visits to address this wear, together with the availability of replacement parts and spare engines, Rolls-Royce do not expect this issue to create significant customer disruption or material annual cost.

Rolls-Royce are providing an update to address any potential speculation which may result from an Airworthiness Directive (AD) which is to be issued by its regulator, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). ADs are a commonplace instrument used by aviation regulators to ensure compliance with necessary inspection and maintenance procedures.

There are currently just over 100 Trent XWB-84s that have been in service for four to five years. Rolls-Royce have inspected the majority of them and found signs of wear on an average of only one or two IPC blades in a minority of those inspected. Rolls-Royce have also taken the precaution of sampling a number of younger Trent XWB-84 engines and have found no unexpected wear.

Chris Cholerton, President – Civil Aerospace, said: “The Trent XWB-84 has experienced the smoothest entry into service of any widebody engine we have developed. It is the most efficient in- service large civil aero-engine in the world, with unequalled on-wing reliability. Engines now coming in for overhaul have travelled the equivalent of 350 times around the world, with no unplanned maintenance. It is reassuring to see that our proactive inspection regime has enabled us to identify and swiftly address this issue and minimise any potential impact on our customers.”