Rolls-Royce today joined STARLUX Airlines and Airbus in celebrating the delivery of the airline’s first widebody aircraft, the A330neo, which is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines.
The aircraft departed from Airbus’ Delivery Centre in Toulouse, France, and landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the home base of STARLUX Airlines. It is scheduled to enter service in May this year. Three more A330neos will be added to the airline’s fleet this year. The aircraft will gradually fly additional routes to major cities within the Asia-Pacific region, including Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore, Bangkok, and Tokyo.
As the exclusive engine for the A330neo, the Trent 7000 is the latest engine in the Trent family, which has clocked up more than 150 million engine flying hours across 26 years of operating.
K. W. Chang, STARLUX Airlines, Founder and Chairman, said: “The efficiency of the A330neo is outstanding by bringing together enhanced technologies and highly efficient Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines. I am delighted to welcome our first A330neo, as it marks a key milestone in our growth. With the addition of the A330neo, STARLUX can deploy our fleet more flexibly and provide our service to more passengers over regional routes.”
Ewen McDonald, Chief Customer Officer, Rolls-Royce Civil Aerospace, said: “We are proud to power STARLUX’s first widebody aircraft, the Trent 7000 powered A330neo. We appreciate the trust STARLUX has placed in us and are committed to supporting them in operating this excellent aircraft, to bring sustainability, efficiency, and connectivity across their network.”
The Trent 7000, which first entered service in November 2018, builds on the unsurpassed performance of the Trent 700 combined with the engine technology of the Trent XWB. Benefitting from the highest bypass ratio of any Trent engine, the Trent 7000 offers a 14 per cent fuel burn improvement per seat compared to its predecessor and will significantly reduce aircraft noise. It is already certified to operate on a fifty per cent blend of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) and will be certified to run on 100% SAF soon.
The Trent 7000 also brings together more than 65million flying hours of experience from the Trent 700, which powers the original version of the A330 – the most popular widebody aircraft in Greater China, operated by all the major airlines in the region.