Insider Media Limited

Rolls-Royce has won a contract from leisure travel company TUI Travel to provide its Trent 700 engines this morning (19 September 2011). It comes after the Derby manufacturing giant welcomed Air France-KLM Group's decision to use its Trent XWB engine operators.

TUI Travel PLC placed the order for the Trent 700 engines to power two Airbus A330 aircraft which will also be covered by Rolls-Royce's TotalCare long-term support services.

The aircraft are set to be operated by TUI's subsidiary Corsairfly and the contract also includes TotalCare services for two additional A330s already in service with the airline.

Air France-KLM has said it intends to order 43 Airbus A350-900 aircraft which are equipped with the Derby-based Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, the only engine provided for this aircraft by the manufacturer.

Mark King, Rolls-Royce president for civil aerospace, said: "This will be the first time we have supplied large engines to Air France-KLM Group and we look forward to building on the positive relationship we have established during the aircraft evaluation process.

"The Trent XWB test results are already showing it to be the most efficient large aero engine available on the market today."

Rolls-Royce said it will work closely with Air France-KLM Group to finalise an agreement linked to this announcement, which it said could cover as many 60 aircraft, 25 of which are planned to be firm orders in the near-term.

Talking of the TUI order, Jacqui Sutton, Rolls-Royce civil aerospace senior vice president of customer business, added: "The Trent 700 is a clear market leader. It is the most efficient engine on the A330, a position maintained by our constant investment in new technology."

More than 1,300 Trent 700 engines are now in service or on firm order and in the last three years the engine has captured more than 75 per cent of orders, Rolls-Royce said.