NEW TECHNOLOGY
very aero engine maker today must have an eye to MRO costs in developing a new model for the market, and Rolls-Royce is particularly pleased that its latest Trent model, the XWB, is gaining favor amongst operators for a variety of such attributes.
A 20 percent reduction in maintenance costs over the first model Trents is a major marketing attraction, and when coupled with greater engine reliability and aids to predictive maintenance the XWB must offer a valuable step forward as it claimed the engine can save airlines some $2.6 million a year compared to the first generation Trents.
The Trent XWB is the engine for the Airbus A350 XWB (‘Extra Wide Body’) aircraft and was offered as a power plant when Airbus created the 250-350-seat family. Rolls contracted that deal and later became the prime supplier of engines for the series. Now offering thrust levels from 75,000lbs up to 97,000lbs, the Trent will power all three versions of the aircraft, from the 270-seat A350-800 to the 314-seat A350-900 and the 350-seat A350-1000. (It’s also slated for the -900 freighter and an ultra-long range A350-900R). In line with its policy of making continuing improvements to all engines in the series, Rolls has now introduced a number to another in the family, the Trent 1000 — best known as the power plant for the Boeing 787 — and which is being rebranded as the Trent 1000- TEN (‘Thrust, Efficiency and New Technology’) which will deliver an improvement of up to three percent in specific fuel consumption as a result of the employment of new technology.
62 Aviation Maintenance |
avm-mag.com | August / September 2012
Tim Boddy, Rolls-Royce’s head of customer marketing for
the Trent XWB, explained some of the issues attached to the engine maintenance and what had been done with the XWB: “Maintenance costs are always a big issue with airlines today, and as fuel costs have risen increasingly Rolls has looked to life cycle costs, and one of those key issues is maintenance costs. All of the Trents have maintenance designed into them, and with the XWB we took to the market a 20 percent reduction in MRO costs. We looked at the different balances that drive maintenance costs, so reliability, engine life, performance and the time and the materials involved in repair or overhaul of the engine or components were all studied. Having a family of engines Rolls-Royce was in a unique position to incorporate lessons learned in this area. Equally, we are mindful of what operators tell us, and if it is a Smart design and more user- friendly, then it is better for the airline. If the airline can perform more maintenance on-wing then problems can be resolved quicker and overall costs can be reduced.”
Features for low-cost MRO Major issues in MRO and related costs were a Smart design and a reduction in engine parts compared to previous designs. The Trent XWB is a three-shaft, eight-module design, with a lightweight titanium fan equipped with 22 blades. The modular approach was adopted on the earlier engines to aid the ready accessing of specific parts of the engine and the
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