The Trent XWB-84 engine is a large turbofan engine developed by British Airways engine giant Rolls-Royce ( Rolls-Royce ) for the Airbus A350. On November 22, Rolls-Royce announced that they had delivered the 1,000th Trent XWB-84 engine, ushering in a new development milestone!
Rolls-Royce mainly produces the XWB-84 engine at its Derby plant in the United Kingdom. It also stated that this is the most efficient aerospace engine in service in the world. It is the latest engine in the Trent family to reach this milestone, selling faster than any previous Trent engine.
has accumulated 8 million hours of flight time and is 15% more fuel efficient than the first-generation Trent engine.
In 2015, the Trent XWB-84 was officially put into use and has since quickly become the fastest-selling large engine in history. Now, the Trent XWB-84 has been delivered to 30 airlines along with the A350, achieving more than 8 million hours of operation. From short legs to ultra-long-range flights of more than 18 hours, the Trent XWB-84 has demonstrated strong reliability and excellent fuel-saving performance.
The Trent XWB-84 also helps airlines build a better fleet mix. Compared with the first-generation Trent engine, the Trent XWB-84 can reduce fuel consumption by 15%, and it also has excellent thrust performance and low cost. noise level. The Trent XWB-84 is also ready to use sustainable aviation fuel in the future.
Since 2015, Trent XWB-84 has contributed to avoiding more than 10 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by nearly 2 million households each year.
In addition to higher efficiency, the Trent XWB-84 also has industry-leading maturity and reliability. If a passenger plane is grounded due to engine problems, it will cause obvious losses. The Trent XWB-84 can achieve dispatch reliability higher than 99.9%.
Sebastian Resch, Rolls-Royce Civil Aviation Operations Director, said: “We are very proud of our state-of-the-art assembly line in Derby – where we have highly skilled staff. With more than 7,500 years of assembly experience. Assembling 1,000 Trent XWB-84 engines requires 25 million parts and more than 6,000 assembly steps per engine. This achievement is the result of the skill and dedication of our operations team and is the result of our extensive experience in manufacturing. Strong support from partners in the program: including GKN Aerospace, ITP Aviation, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries , as well as our external supply chain. The Trent XWB-84 is the only engine of choice for the Airbus A350. , which means that for every A350 sold, 2 modified engines will be sold. While jumbo jets have millions of parts, their engines are among the most valuable. From 2010 to the present, Airbus has produced 443 A350s, which means that at least 886 Trent XWB-84s have been sold. Airlines usually choose more engines to prepare for emergencies.
At the same time, the epidemic has also affected the delivery of engines. Rolls-Royce Chief Customer Officer Ivan McDonald mentioned when referring to the market situation: "When the new crown epidemic took hold, the number of engines we produced increased overnight. Between them we have almost halved. We are in line with our major customers (Boeingand Airbus) on the resumption of product deliveries, with full recovery not expected until 2024."
Rolls-Royce is now commercially available only for wide-body jetliners. Aircraft engine. And as sustainability becomes an important topic in the aviation industry, demand for such engines is also increasing. Airlines are also increasingly looking to use the latest generation of passenger aircraft and replace less efficient ones.
Since 2004, Airbus has faced pressure from customers to develop a competitor to the Boeing 787. So Airbus launched the A350 project in October 2005, which was improved based on A330. The plan proposed by Rolls-Royce is also a modification of the Trent 1000, with a thrust of 75,000 pounds (approximately 34 tons), which is the Trent 1700.
In 2006, after Airbus reviewed the A350, it reached an agreement with Rolls-Royce to provide new Trent XWB engines for all types of passenger aircraft, with thrust ranging from 75,000 pounds to 95,000 pounds.
Airbus froze the A350 design in December 2008 after determining that the A350's empty weight was 2.2 tons greater than the target of 133.5 tons, so the maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) was increased by 3 tons to maintain payload and range. Rolls-Royce has also further modified the engine parameters to increase thrust by an additional 1,000 pounds. In 2011, the A350 engine thrust was upgraded. Its thrust has climbed to 97,000 pounds (about 44 tons). It can also better maintain competition with the 777-300ER.
Chris Cholerton, President of Rolls-Royce Commercial Aviation: “Reaching this milestone (1,000 units delivered) is another great achievement for the Trent XWB-84, which is the most efficient in service today. Aerospace engines. It's important for our customers to build more efficient fleets and next-generation engines like the Trent XWB-84 enable them to do that, and we want to thank everyone, including our customers and employees. , partners and suppliers who helped create the engine project’s success.
