Rolls-Royce orders inspection of ‘worn’ Airbus engines

British aerospace giant Rolls-Royce said on Tuesday, August 11, it had discovered “wear” on some of its Trent engines used in Airbus A350 jets, triggering inspections of similar-aged motors as a precaution.

Having recently suffered from expensive repairs to its Trent 1000 engines servicing Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, Rolls said it “identified indications of wear in the intermediate pressure compressor (IPC) of a small number of engines that have been in service for 4 to 5 years and are approaching their first overhaul.”

It added in a statement: “None of these engines have experienced any abnormal in-flight operation, however we are inspecting all other Trent XWB-84 engines of a similar service life as a precaution.”

Rolls identified “just over 100 Trent XWB-84s” that had been in service over the 4- to 5-year period. 

“We 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.

“We have also taken the precaution of sampling a number of younger Trent XWB-84 engines and have found no unexpected wear,” it added.

It comes with Rolls hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic grounding passenger planes worldwide and causing airlines to cut thousands of jobs and slash costs.

Rolls is doing the same, announcing in May that it was cutting 9,000 jobs, or 17% of its global workforce.

Rolls has already spent the past two years cutting thousands of management roles following weak demand for its power systems used by the marine industry. – Rappler.com