News - Midlands
Rolls-Royce signs contracts worth $2bn
Derbyshire aerospace giant Rolls-Royce has secured orders worth $2bn for Airbus engines for Air China and Ethiopian Airlines. The announcement came at this weekend's Dubai Airshow. Rolls-Royce will make 20 engines for Air China’s Trent A330 model in a deal worth $1.5bn, and the order is set to be completed in 2011. The Ethiopian Airlines order, worth $480m, is due for service in 2017. Rolls-Royce has now sold more than 1,000 of its XWB engines. Phil Harris, Rolls-Royce senior vice-president customer business, said: "We are delighted that Air China is again turning to Trent engine technology. It offers Air China many advantages, such as the ability to maximise capacity at hot and high-altitude airports, minimise fuel costs and benefit from the Rolls-Royce TotalCare comprehensive long-term support package." Girma Wake, CEO for Ethiopian Airlines, said: "As one of Africa's leading airlines, we constantly seek to improve our range and frequency of international services to meet growing passenger demand. Our selection of low-fuel-burn Trent technology will enable us to do this in the most cost-effective way."