Raising the bar in performance, comfort, simplicity and connectivity
Airbus Helicopters’ five-bladed H145 has been certified by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), clearing the way for customer deliveries towards the end of summer 2020. The certification covers the full range of capabilities, including single-pilot and instrument flight rules (IFR) and single engine operations (Cat.A/VTOL), along with night vision goggles capability.
“Our new five bladed H145 is an excellent example of our quest for continuous improvement and providing incremental innovation that responds to our customers’ requirements”, said Bruno Even, Airbus Helicopters CEO. “This helicopter combines value-added features with the robustness and the reliability of a tried-and-tested bestseller, making it very competitive in the light twin-engine market.”
The new version of Airbus’ best-selling H145 light twin-engine helicopter was unveiled at Heli-Expo 2019 in Atlanta, GA, with launch customers announced for almost every market segment. Prior to the successful high-altitude test campaign in South America, where the aircraft set its skids down on the Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Southern hemisphere, the new H145 performed several test campaigns including in Spain at medium altitudes and Finland for cold weather.
This latest upgrade of the H145 family adds a new, innovative five-bladed rotor to the multi-mission H145, increasing the useful load of the helicopter by 150 kg (330 lb). The simplicity of the new bearingless main rotor design will also ease maintenance operations, further improving the benchmark serviceability and reliability of the H145, while improving ride comfort for both passengers and crew. Certification by the Federal Aviation Administration will follow later this year. The certification for the military version of the five-bladed H145 will be granted in 2021.
Powered by two Safran Arriel 2E engines, the H145 is equipped with full authority digital engine control (FADEC) and the Helionix digital avionics suite. It includes a high performance 4-axis autopilot, increasing safety and reducing pilot workload. Its particularly low acoustic footprint makes the H145 the quietest helicopter in its class.
Outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Renton, Washington
PARIS (Reuters) – Safran <SAF.PA> shares rose on Thursday after Boeing <BA.N> said it would restart production of its 737 MAX jet and announced further cost-cutting measures.
Shares in the French aerospace firm, which co-produces the 737 MAX’s engines with General Electric <GE.N>, were up 2.2%, while Airbus <AIR.PA> shares were 0.7% higher.
Boeing said on Wednesday it was eliminating more than 12,000 U.S. jobs, including 6,770 involuntary layoffs, as the largest American planemaker restructures in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The move nevertheless lifted Boeing’s shares.
The U.S. rival to Airbus said it had restarted 737 MAX production at a “low rate” at its Renton, Washington factory. Reuters reported in April that regulatory approval for the MAX was not expected until at least August.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by David Goodman and Alexander Smith)
The Safran company logo is pictured at the company’s logistic area in Colomiers near Toulouse
FILE PHOTO: A traffic light is seen in front of a logo of General Electric at the company’s plant in Birr
(Reuters) – The U.S. government is considering whether to stop General Electric Co from continuing to supply engines for a new Chinese passenger jet, according to people familiar with the matter, casting uncertainty over China’s efforts to enter the civil aviation market.
The potential restriction on the engine sales – possibly along with limits on other components for Chinese commercial aircraft such as flight control systems made by Honeywell International Inc – is the latest move in the battle between the world’s two largest economies over trade and technology.
The issue is expected to come up at an interagency meeting about how strictly to limit exports of U.S. technology to China on Thursday and at another meeting with members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet set for Feb. 28, sources said.
The White House and the U.S. Commerce Department, which issues licenses for such exports, declined to comment, as did a GE spokeswoman. The departments of Defense, State, Energy and Treasury did not respond to requests for comment.
For years, the United States has supported American companies’ business with China’s budding civil aviation industry.
The government has provided licenses that allow those companies to sell engines, flight control systems and other components for China’s first large commercial aircraft, the COMAC C919. The narrow-body jet has already engaged in test flights and is expected to go into service next year. COMAC is an acronym for Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd.
But the Trump administration is weighing whether to deny GE’s latest license request to provide the CFM LEAP-1C engine for the C919, people familiar with the matter said, though GE has received licenses for the LEAP engines since 2014 and was last granted one in March 2019.
The CFM LEAP engine is a joint venture between GE and France’s Safran Aircraft Engines. The proposal to halt the deliveries of the engines was also reported on Saturday by the Wall Street Journal.
Safran did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and French government officials could not be reached for comment.
Aside from aircraft engines, flight control systems are up for discussion at the February meetings. Honeywell International has received licenses to export flight control systems to COMAC for the C919 for about a decade, and one was approved in early 2020, according to a person familiar with the matter.
But future permission for such sales for COMAC’s passenger aircrafts may be up for debate. Honeywell also has been seeking a license for flight control technology to participate in the development of the C929, China’s planned wide-body jet venture with Russia, the person said.
The flight control system operates moving mechanical parts, such as the wing flaps, from the cockpit.
A spokeswoman for Honeywell declined to comment.
An aerospace trade group official said his organization would like to weigh in on any policy shifts.
“If there are any changes, we would hope they would engage with us, as they’ve done before,” said Remy Nathan, vice president for international affairs at the Aerospace Industries Association.
At the heart of the debate over a possible crackdown on the sale of U.S. parts to China’s nascent aircraft industry is whether such shipments would fuel the rise of a serious competitor to U.S.-based Boeing Co or boost China’s military capabilities.
People familiar with the matter said some administration officials are concerned the Chinese could reverse engineer some items, though others say an abundance of LEAP engines in China has not brought that about to date.
If the United States were to move ahead with the measure, one person familiar with the matter said, China could retaliate by ordering more planes from Airbus SE , rather than crisis-hit Boeing, which relies on China for a fourth its deliveries.
The Trump administration’s meetings about technology issues also are set to include a discussion of whether to impose further restrictions on suppliers to Huawei Technologies, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, which is on a U.S. trade blacklist.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Alexandra Alper; additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
FILE PHOTO: China’s home-grown C919 passenger jet taxis after landing on its maiden flight at the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai
PARIS (Reuters) – European missile maker MBDA’s chief executive is returning to Airbus as head of strategy as the planemaker seeks to modernise its factory system and explores future options in defence, two people familiar with the matter said.
Antoine Bouvier, 59, replaces Patrick de Castelbajac who becomes head of Airbus Asia-Pacific, the sources said. Castelbajac’s responsibility for Airbus international operations had already been transferred to sales chief Christian Scherer.
At Airbus, Bouvier will be embarking on a battle of wits with a new strategy head at arch-rival Boeing CO.
Chris Raymond, until recently head of Boeing’s Autonomous Systems business, recently became vice-president for enterprise strategy under finance director Greg Smith, sources said. Raymond’s appointment has not been officially announced.
Airbus and MBDA declined to comment on Bouvier’s appointment, which was first reported by AeroDefenseNews. It is the latest step in a management reshuffle accelerated by the recent official appointment of Guillaume Faury as Airbus CEO.
Bouvier, a former civil servant who narrowly missed out on running France’s DGA defence procurement agency two years ago, brings experience in forging defence partnerships to Airbus, which is embroiled in a row with Germany over arms controls.
He is expected to be replaced at MBDA by former OneWeb chief Eric Beranger.
Although there is fierce day-to-day competition, with Taiwan’s China Airlines opting last week to switch to Airbus, the European planemaker is not expected to exploit the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX jetliner for now, industry sources said.
NEXT GENERATION
The future of the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX – the industry’s most successful models – is seen as strategically entwined and insiders say Airbus is also worried about the impact of the grounding on global certification..
But the planemakers are crafting crucial strategies for the next generation of single-aisle jets from about 2030 – both likely to define the aircraft industry well beyond mid-century.
Insiders say Faury wants Airbus to focus more on industrial strategy and closing a perceived gap with Boeing in production technology, as well as responding to the threat of increased environmental regulation of air travel, as well as new products.
Airbus must also assess how to respond to rising defence spending after its failure to merge with Britain’s BAE Systems in 2012 left it heavily skewed towards commercial markets that are now approaching the end of an extended upcycle.
It is involved on the German side of a nascent Franco-German fighter project along with French partner Dassault Aviation but faces competition for valuable systems work and a growing spat with the German government over export controls.
At MBDA, Bouvier helped forge an Anglo-French agreement on the use of shared missile technology.
Bouvier followed the classic path of a French mandarin from the prestigious Polytechnique engineering school to France’s ENA civil service academy. He had been linked with a number of top aerospace posts such as Safran and Thales.
“His appointment will be very credible with the French government,” a person familiar with the appointment said. France and Germany own 11 percent each of Airbus.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Luke Baker and Alexander Smith)
This image taken from a video distributed by Russian Investigative Committee on Sunday, May 5, 2019, shows the Sukhoi SSJ100 aircraft of Aeroflot Airlines on fire, at Sheremetyevo airport, outside Moscow, Russia. At least 40 people died when an Aeroflot airliner burst into flames while making an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, officials said early Monday. (The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation via AP)
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The Aeroflot-operated SSJ100 passenger jet that caught fire during an emergency landing in Moscow is part of Russia’s efforts to maintain a presence in civil aviation in a market dominated by companies like Boeing, Airbus and Embraer.
Here’s a quick look at the SSJ100 and the Russian company that built it, the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company:
THE PLANE
The
SSJ100, or Superjet 100, is a short- to medium-haul narrow body jet
with two engines that can be configured to carry up to 103 people.
At
that size, it’s intended to substitute for larger planes such as the
Boeing 737 or Airbus 321 on shorter, less travelled routes and during
slower travel seasons. Regional aircraft are an important part of
Russia’s transportation system, given the country’s enormous distances
and many remote towns. The Superjet succeeds older, Soviet-built planes
such as the Tu-134 airliner.
The plane is built at the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company’s plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia’s distant Far East region. Although the design is Russian, the company says it uses the latest Western technology as well. The engines are made by PowerJet, a joint venture between France’s Safran Aircraft Engines and Russia’s Saturn.
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft of Airflot Airlines, center, is seen after an emergency landing in Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, May 5, 2019. (Moscow News Agency photo via AP)
The
plane first flew in 2008 and entered commercial service in 2011. It is
certified by the European Union Safety Agency but is mainly used in
Russia and has not made much headway against international competitors,
not just from Boeing and Airbus but also from Brazil’s Embraer.
Aeroflot
is the biggest client with 50 of the planes. Mexico’s Interjet said
Sunday it operated five of the planes “under the highest safety
standards.”
Interjet
earlier operated 22 Superjets but referred in a recent earnings report
to the “gradual phase out of the fleet of SSJ100.” The company reported
lost sales after the planes were grounded due to a defect in the tail
section in December 2016 and said it was seeking “contractual recovery
of amounts related to maintenance costs” for the planes.
Ireland’s CityJet, which supplies planes and crews to other airlines, stopped operating several Superjets in January.
People gather around the damaged Sukhoi SSJ100 aircraft of Aeroflot Airlines at Sheremetyevo airport, outside Moscow, Russia, Monday, May 6, 2019. Russia’s main investigative body says both flight recorders have been recovered from the plane that caught fire while making an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, killing at least 40 people on Sunday. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
THE COMPANY
The
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company bears the name of the legendary Soviet
aircraft designer, Pavel Sukhoi, who was responsible for a series of
Soviet military aircraft starting before World War II.
Today’s
firm is part of Russia’s United Aircraft Company, which consolidated
many of the legendary names of Soviet aviation such as MiG, Sukhoi,
Tupolev and Yak. UAC was established by a decree from President Vladimir
Putin in 2006 to promote the Russian aircraft industry, which is seen
as essential for the security and defense of the country. Much of its
production goes to the military, while the SSJ100 is the key project
aimed at maintaining a Russian presence in civil aviation.
TROUBLES
On
May 9, 2012, a demonstration flight hit Mount Salak in Indonesia,
killing all 45 on board, after the pilot disregarded six alarms from the
terrain warning system on the apparent assumption there was a problem
with the terrain database, according to the report from Indonesia’s air
safety regulator. The plane had unintentionally left a circling pattern
after the crew was distracted by a prolonged conversation not related to
flying the plane.
And a Superjet skidded off the runway at Iceland’s Keflavik airport in 2013 with landing gear up during flight certification tests involving landing on one engine; one crew member suffered minor injuries.
In this photo taken on Tuesday, April 30, 2019, the Sukhoi SSJ-100 aircraft of Aeroflot Airlines that made an emergency landing on Sunday, May 5, 2019 in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, takes off from the Siberian city of Tyumen, Russia. Russia’s flagship airline Aeroflot says the plane that caught fire at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, killing at least one person, had been forced to turn back after taking off for the city of Murmansk because of technical reasons. (AP Photo/Marina Lystseva)
(Reuters) – Boeing Co’s largest supplier Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc reported strong first-quarter results on Wednesday, while following the planemaker in suspending its full-year outlook in the face of the global grounding of 737 MAX jets.
The crisis with Boeing’s most popular aircraft has thrown into doubt orders for a raft of parts makers who have been investing heavily to meet record-breaking demand from the world’s biggest planemaker over the past two years.
Spirit, which makes fuselage, structural engine components and wing parts for the MAX, did a deal with Boeing last month to stick to its current parts delivery schedules for now, and its profits in the first quarter were up 30 percent, according to Wednesday’s quarterly results.
Boeing however has announced cutbacks in its monthly production of MAX jets to 42 from 52 and while it says it is nearing certification for a software fix for the jet, airlines are assuming the planes will not be back in the air before August.
Spirit said with the uncertainty around MAX production it could not stand by its previous full-year outlook which had factored production for MAX jets rising to 57 units per month in June.
“As we now expect to remain at 52 aircraft per month for some period of time, (prior) guidance does not reflect our current outlook,” Spirit Chief Executive Officer Tom Gentile said, adding he was waiting for more clarity from Boeing on MAX’s return to service.
MAX’s other major supplier General Electric Co, which makes engines with Safran SA of France, on Tuesday stuck to its full-year forecasts, while highlighting risk due to MAX’s reduced production.
Another MAX supplier United Technologies Corp last month included an up to 10 cents per share impact in its full-year profit outlook from the groundings of the jet, assuming Boeing produced at 42 aircraft per month for the rest of the year.
Spirit, whose shares are down about 10 percent since the fatal crash of the Ethiopian Airlines’ jet on March 10, rose as much as 3.5 percent to $89.96 in morning trade.
“Given that (Spirit’s) shares have already notably sold off, we think much of this … has been discounted into the price,” Vertical Research Partners Krishna Sinha said.
The company said it has taken actions including deferring capital investments and pausing hiring and share repurchases to mitigate the financial impact of the MAX production change.
On an adjusted basis, Spirit earned $1.68 per share, beating analysts’ average estimate of $1.64 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Total revenue rose 13.4 percent to $1.97 billion (£1.51 billion), beating estimates of $1.93 billion.
(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
* flight had 157 people from more than 30 countries aboard
* Boeing 737 MAX 8 was also involved in October Lion Air crash
* Many families learned of crash from social media (Updates with more details from CEO about pilot and plane)
By Duncan Miriri and Maggie Fick
NAIROBI, March 10 (Reuters) – An Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet bound for Nairobi crashed minutes after take-off on Sunday, killing all 157 people on board and raising questions about the safety of the Boeing 737 MAX 8, a new model that also crashed in Indonesia in October.
Sunday’s flight left Bole airport in Addis Ababa at 8:38 a.m. (0538 GMT), before losing contact with the control tower just a few minutes later at 8:44 a.m.
“There are no survivors,” the airline tweeted alongside a picture of CEO Tewolde GebreMariam holding up a piece of debris inside a large crater at the crash site.
Passengers from 33 countries were aboard, said Tewolde in a news conference. The dead included Kenyan, Ethiopian, American, Canadian, French, Chinese, Egyptian, Swedish, British, Dutch, Indian, Slovakian, Austrian, Swedish, Russian, Moroccan, Spanish, Polish, and Israeli citizens.
Weeping relatives begged for information at airports in Nairobi and Addis Ababa.
“We’re just waiting for my mum. We’re just hoping she took a different flight or was delayed. She’s not picking up her phone,” said Wendy Otieno, clutching her phone and weeping.
The aircraft, a 737 MAX 8, is the same model that crashed into the Java Sea shortly after take-off from Jakarta on Oct 29, killing all 189 people on board the Lion Air flight.
The cause of that crash is still under investigation.
Ethiopian’s new aircraft had no recorded technical problems and the pilot had an “excellent” flying record, Tewolde said in a news conference.
“We received the airplane on November 15, 2018. It has flown more than 1,200 hours. It had flown from Johannesburg earlier this morning,” he said. “The pilot mentioned that he had difficulties and that he wanted to return.”
“UNSTABLE SPEED”
Flight ET 302, registration number ET-AVJ, crashed near the town of Bishoftu, 62 km (38 miles) southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, with 149 passengers and eight crew aboard, the airline said.
The flight had unstable vertical speed after take off, the flight tracking website Flightradar24 tweeted.
The aircraft had shattered into many pieces and was severely burnt, a Reuters reporter at the scene of the crash said. Clothing and personal effects were scattered widely over the field where the plane came down.
It was not clear what had caused the crash. Boeing sent condolences to the families and said it was ready to help investigate.
This is the second recent crash of the latest version of Boeing’s workhorse narrowbody jet that first entered service in 2017. The 737 is the world’s best selling modern passenger aircraft and one of the industry’s most reliable.
A preliminary report into the October Lion Air crash, focused on airline maintenance and training and the response of a Boeing anti-stall system to a recently replaced sensor, but did not give a reason for the crash. Since then, the cockpit voice recorder was recovered and a final report is due later this year.
ANGUISHED RELATIVES
At Nairobi airport, many relatives were left waiting at the gate for hours, with no information from airport authorities. Some learned of the crash from journalists.
Robert Mutanda, 46, was waiting for his brother-in-law, a Canadian citizen.
“No, we haven’t seen anyone from the airline or the airport,” he told Reuters at 1pm, more than three hours after the flight was lost. “Nobody has told us anything, we are just standing here hoping for the best.”
Kenyan officials did not arrive at the airport until 1:30 p.m., five hours after the plane went down.
James Macharia, the cabinet secretary for transport, said he heard about the crash via Twitter.
Families were taken to Nairobi’s Sheraton hotel, but said they were still waiting to hear from airline staff eight hours after the accident.
ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES
Under international rules, responsibility for leading the crash investigation lies with Ethiopia but the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will also participate because the plane was designed and built in the United States.
Representatives of Boeing and Cincinnati-based engine-maker CFM, a joint venture between General Electric and General Electric Co and France’s Safran SA will advise the NTSB.
Ethiopian is one of the biggest carriers on the continent by fleet size. The plane was among six of 30 Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets the rapidly expanding carrier has ordered.
The fleet will continue flying since the cause of the crash is not clear, the CEO said.
Its last major crash was in January 2010, when a flight from Beirut went down shortly after take-off, killing all 90 people onboard. The Lebanese blamed pilot error, which was disputed by the airline.
(Additional reporting by Hereward Holland, Omar Mohammed and Katharine Houreld in Nairobi; Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa; Tiksa Negeri in Bishoftu; Tim Hepher in Brussels and Jamie Freed in Singapore; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
(Reuters) – Boeing Co is indicating “full speed ahead” for a new midsized airplane in what would be the first all-new jet program for the world’s biggest planemaker in more than a decade, Air Lease Corp’s chief executive, John Plueger, said on Wednesday.
Boeing reiterated on Wednesday that it will make a decision in 2020 on whether to launch the plane, which aims to address the middle of the jet market between traditional narrowbody jets with one aisle and long-distance widebody planes. It can start seeking offers in 2019, subject to launch.
“Boeing is signalling full speed ahead but there’s still a lot to be decided in these programs,” Plueger said at a conference, noting the company had met with Boeing in Seattle on Friday.
In an emailed statement, Boeing said it is still working through the business case for the new jet, adding: “If we decide to offer the airplane and the market responds positively, we will proceed with a launch decision sometime in 2020.”
Air Lease, one of the largest aircraft lessors, said it sees interest in Boeing’s proposed mid-market aircraft from airlines, some of which are looking for longer range while others, such as Asian carriers, seek the lowest possible cost per seat kilometre.
Still, Boeing is taking a “thoughtful approach” to the potential project following a series of cost overruns and delays with its last jet program, the 787, and has yet to discuss possible pricing, Air Lease Executive Chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy said.
Air Lease will meet on Saturday with Airbus SE, which is preparing to counter the potential new jet by Boeing with a new version of its A321 and the larger A330neo.
While Boeing and Airbus have traditionally launched new jets alongside purchase commitments from airlines, interest by aircraft lessors like Air Lease is forming an increasingly important role in the decision-making process, industry sources have said.
Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Ed Bastian said on Monday that it is interested in a mid-market aircraft from Boeing to replace 200 757 and 767 aircraft over the next decade.
Last month, Rolls-Royce dropped out of the race to power Boeing’s planned jet, strengthening a leading position in the high-profile contest for a transatlantic venture involving General Electric Co and France’s Safran.
“Somebody had to drop out and the competition at this point is progressing normally,” Plueger said.
Pratt & Whitney is also a potential supplier for the new Boeing jet.
(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Interest is rising for Boeing’s new 757 replacement jet!
Airbus Helicopters is unveiling a new version of its best-selling H145 light twin-engine helicopter at Heli-Expo 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. Visible in the Airbus booth at the show, this latest upgrade brings a new, innovative five-bladed rotor to the multi-mission H145, increasing the useful load of the helicopter by 150 kg while delivering new levels of comfort, simplicity and connectivity.
“We’re extremely happy to be able to showcase the new H145 to our customers here in Atlanta as this upgrade owes a lot to the feedback they have provided us over the years about the aircraft,” said Bruno Even, Airbus Helicopters CEO. “Our teams have worked hard to quickly bring to the market a set of innovations that we believe will contribute to the success of our customers’ operations. It is their trust in the H145 and all its predecessor variants over the last decades that have made it the fantastic helicopter it has become today, and I want to thank them for their continuous support”.
The H145’s new five-bladed rotor brings a significant increase in overall performance, with a maximum take-off weight raised to 3,800 kg and a useful load now equivalent to the aircraft’s empty weight. The simplicity of the new bearingless main rotor design will also ease maintenance operations, further improving the benchmark serviceability and reliability of the H145, while improving ride comfort for both passengers and crew. The reduced rotor diameter will allow the H145 to operate in more confined areas.
The new H145 introduces new levels of on-board connectivity to customers and operators through the integration of the wireless Airborne Communication System (wACS), allowing seamless and secure transmission of data generated by the helicopter in real-time, including in-flight.
EASA certification of the new H145 is planned for early 2020, with first deliveries to follow later that year. This upgrade will also be offered to current H145 customers as a retrofit option in order to deliver the same improvements in terms of useful load, simplified maintenance and comfort to the existing version of the H145.
Powered by two Safran Arriel 2E engines, the H145 is equipped with full authority digital engine control (FADEC) and the Helionix digital avionics suite. It includes a high performance 4-axis autopilot, increasing safety and reducing pilot workload. Its particularly low acoustic footprint makes the H145 the quietest helicopter in its class.
About Airbus
Airbus is a global leader in aeronautics, space and related services. In 2018 it generated revenues of € 64 billion and employed a workforce of around 134,000. Airbus offers the most comprehensive range of passenger airliners. Airbus is also a European leader providing tanker, combat, transport and mission aircraft, as well as one of the world’s leading space companies. In helicopters, Airbus provides the most efficient civil and military rotorcraft solutions worldwide.
LONDON
(Reuters) – Rolls-Royce dropped out of the race to power Boeing’s
planned mid-market aircraft on Thursday, saying it did not want to risk
more disruption for its airline customers by rushing out a product
without extensive testing.
The
move strengthens a leading position in the high-profile contest already
held by a transatlantic venture involving Rolls’ arch-rival General
Electric, industry sources said,
Britain’s
Rolls-Royce, which makes engines for large civil aircraft and military
planes, wants to avoid a repeat of the problems with its Trent 1000
engine that powers Boeing’s Dreamliner 787.
Chief
Executive Warren East said he had taken the “very difficult decision”
to withdraw from the Boeing competition because it couldn’t make the
development of its new UltraFan architecture fit the timetable for the
aircraft.
Boeing
has proposed launching a new mid-sized jetliner to fill a gap between
the narrow and wide-body aircraft, with airline operations beginning in
2025.
“If
you enter into service with an engine that is not sufficiently mature,
then you are almost inevitably going to run into lots of in-service
issues, lots of customer disruption and lots of incremental costs,” East
told reporters.
He
said, however, that Rolls was still committed to UltraFan, a major new
fuel-efficient architecture that will power wide-body jets towards the
back end of the next decade.
CFM
International — a joint venture between GE and France’s Safran — as
well as Pratt & Whitney are also potential suppliers for the new
Boeing jet.
Pratt
& Whitney recently re-entered the civil market for narrow-body jets
and wants to expand to larger ones, but has been hit by industrial
problems.
UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS
In
the nearer term, Rolls is still dealing with the costs and disruption
of fixing Trent 1000 engines caused by the poor durability of
components.
“On
this issue we have indeed turned the corner,” East said, although he
added that the level of customer disruption was still unacceptable.
It
raised the Trent 1000 charge to 790 million pounds from 554 million
pounds at the half year, contributing to a full-year operating loss of
1.16 billion pounds ($1.54 billion), and allocated another 100 million
pounds in cash to the problem.
The issue has damaged Rolls’ standing with its big customers.
British
Airways owner IAG said on Thursday it would order 18 Boeing 777-9s,
rather than a competing package from Airbus that industry sources said
included the A350, which is powered by Rolls.
“I
have been frustrated, largely with the performance of Rolls-Royce, not
so much with Airbus,” IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh said.
East, however, said Rolls had an excellent relationship with BA and put the choice down to IAG’s fleet requirements.
“I am totally confident we will be continuing to be a major partner with BA for many, many years into the future,” he said.
East
said that aside from Trent 1000, the rest of the business was
performing well, although the large engine deliveries of 480 fell short
of its 500 target, in part due to the challenge of stepping up Trent
7000 production.
Shares in Rolls were trading down 3.4 percent at 950 pence, underperforming a 1 percent drop in the FTSE 100.
The
company reported a 8 percent rise in underlying revenue to 15.1 billion
pounds and a doubling of operating profit to 616 million pounds.
However,
changes in Rolls-Royce’s dollar-pound hedge book had a significant
impact on its results, and were in part responsible for a reported
full-year loss of 2.9 billion pounds.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle, Additional reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Edmund Blair and Keith Weir)
