Rolls-Royce (R-R) reports that testing of the engine for the A350-1000, the Trent XWB-97, is proceeding well and that the performance data gives them a high confidence the program will meet its deadlines. As of mid-June, test engines had accumulated in excess of 1,350 hours and 1,950 cycles.
The Trent XWB family is the sole powerplant offered with the Airbus A350, which has 802 orders including 181 stretched versions (Trent XWB-97-powered A350-1000 models) and 16 shorter-body A350-800 variants. For the A350-900 model, RR reports installations in 24 Trent XWB-84-engined aircraft were flying with six operators.
Overall, the Trent XWB engine fleet has more than 37,800 flights and 110,000 engine flight-hours after 18 months of operations.
Rolls-Royce has plans to “build in” technologies developed from the XWB-97 testing (97,000 lb of thrust) into the XWB-84 (84,000 lb of thrust). The company hopes this will give a 1% improvement in specific fuel consumption for the planned Trent XWB-84 EP (enhanced performance) model.
More than 70 % of XWB-97 certification tests have been completed.
July 15, 2016
