Dubai Air Show orders and milestones reflect Rolls-Royce technology success

The Group, which has the most extensive portfolio of power systems in the aerospace industry, won orders in both the civil and defence aerospace market sectors. It also reaffirmed its commitment to working in partnership in the Middle East, signing a tenancy agreement with the Qatar Science and Technology Park.

Civil highlights included orders for both the Trent 700 and Trent XWB, taking sales for each engine type past 1,000.

Air China ordered the Trent 700, in an order worth $1.5bn to power 20 Airbus A330 aircraft. A total of 584 Trent 700 engines have been delivered to customers around the world since entry into service in 1995.

Ethiopian Airlines selected the Trent XWB, the fastest selling Trent engine ever, in an order worth $480m that also marked the airline's first Trent purchase. The engines will power 12 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft.

In the defence sector, Rolls-Royce was awarded a $171m contract to supply its unique LiftSystem for a further nine Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) variant F-35 Lightning II (Joint Strike Fighter) aircraft. This order is the second production contract for Rolls-Royce as part of its involvement in the Joint Strike Fighter programme.

Rolls-Royce also announced it has powered the UK's largest fully-autonomous unmanned aircraft through successful flight trials in Australia. Working in conjunction with BAE Systems, which is leading the Mantis programme, Rolls-Royce has led the development of an Integrated Power System (IPS) incorporating the twin engines and propellers and associated sub-systems.

Europrop International, in which Rolls-Royce is a partner, announced a major milestone on the path to the first flight of the Airbus A400M military transport aircraft with the clearance of the aircraft's TP400 engines for taxi trials.

Rolls-Royce market success continues to reflect the financial and operational appeal of long-term service agreements designed to minimise customer financial risk and enhance operational performance and reliability, allowing operators to concentrate on their core business.

The Air China order included Rolls-Royce TotalCare service support, which is now in place on more than 80% of new Trent engines.

The Group also benefited from the continued success of International Aero Engines, in which Rolls-Royce is a senior partner. IAE received an order for V2500 engines from DAE Capital, the aircraft leasing and financial business arm of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), with a value to Rolls-Royce of $110m. IAE also won an order for aftermarket services from Etihad Airways for V2500 engines worth up to $60m to Rolls-Royce.