Rolls-Royce today joined Sichuan Airlines and Airbus to celebrate the delivery of the first leased Airbus A350 aircraft to mainland China. The aircraft is powered by the Trent XWB engine, the most efficient large aero engine in service. The A350 took off from Airbus’ headquarters in Toulouse, France, and will land in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, China, prior to entry into service later this month.
Representing the world's second largest civil aviation market, Greater China is important to Rolls-Royce, presenting tremendous opportunities to further build on its leading position in the global widebody market. Today, Rolls-Royce powers over half of the region’s widebody fleet, with 20% of Trent engine orders coming from Chinese operators.
Paul Freestone, Rolls-Royce Senior Vice President – Customers, Civil Aerospace, who attended the ceremony, said: “We warmly congratulate both Sichuan Airlines and Airbus on the delivery of the first leased A350 to mainland China. The A350 has enjoyed truly global success and this is another new chapter in that story. We are proud to be powering Sichuan Airlines’ entire widebody fleet and look forward to strengthening our partnership by continuing to provide outstanding economic and environmental performance with these new aircraft.”
The Trent XWB is the fastest selling wide body jet engine ever, with over 1,700 ordered by 46 customers worldwide. It recently achieved two million flying hours and the 500th engine was delivered to Airbus, a sign of the programme’s rapidly growing maturity.
Sichuan Airlines has leased four A350s, and has also ordered a further ten of the aircraft. It also operates an all Airbus fleet, including 12 Trent 700-powered A330s.
The airline became the first in mainland China to select Rolls-Royce’s flagship TotalCare® service offering more than a decade ago. Last year it became the first operator in mainland China to select Rolls-Royce’s new TotalCare Parts Availability Service product, for its Trent XWB engines.
Trent XWB – incredible engineering by numbers:
- It sucks in up to 1.3 tonnes of air, the equivalent of a squash court, every second at take-off.
- The force on a fan blade at take-off is equivalent to a load of almost 90 tons, the same as nine London buses hanging off each blade.
- High pressure turbine blades inside the engine rotate at 12,500 rpm, with their tips reaching 1,200mph – twice the speed of sound.
- At take off each of the engine’s high pressure turbine blades generates around 900 horsepower per blade – the equivalent to that of a Formula One racing car.
- At full power, air leaves the nozzle at the back of the engine travelling at almost 1000mph.