Rolls-Royce is attempting to use MRO to remedy Trent 1000 issues |
| Léo Barnier |
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14 NOV 2019 | 397 words
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© Rolls-Royce |
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Rolls-Royce will need to make a major effort with its support capacities. Confronted with recurring problems on its Trent 1000 engines - and particularly the early wear of the TEN version's high pressure (HP) turbine blades - the British engine manufacturer has announced the acceleration of its plans to expand its MRO network" with several major projects under way to increase capacity for the Trent 1000 in the short term".
The main provision is the expansion of the Dahlewitz site in Germany and the Montreal site in Canada. Both are set to become "service hubs able to service Trent 1000 engines". This is a major change for the Canadian site, which until now had been dedicated to business plane engines.
Rolls-Royce should also be making significant investment in the United Kingdom to develop the resources at its Derby stronghold and turn it into a Centre of excellence for engine servicing and double the servicing capacities at its London-Heathrow facilities. At the same time, the Bristol and Inchinnan sites will be reinforced to be able to absorb a higher volume of Trent 700s.
Finally, the engine manufacturer "secured the use of an additional test bed at Dallas Fort Worth" to test its engines on the other side of the Atlantic. No specific measures have as yet been announced for Asia, in particular Seletar (Singapore).
"This investment marks a step-change in our MRO expansion plans and will assist us over the longer term in meeting the servicing demands of our growing installed base", Rolls-Royce said in a press release.
These network investments will be accompanied by other measures to quickly reduce the number of aircraft stranded on the ground (AOG) because of Trent 1000 issues. The stock of spare engines will "increase significantly". Nevertheless, the engine manufacturer admits that these increased immobilisations will need to be compensated for financially "by establishing new spending priorities and making savings elsewhere". It still remains to be seen where, given that a vast restructuring plan was already launched in June 2018.
This acceleration will be especially useful given that the EASA, at the request of the Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza del Volo (ANSV), has just published an airworthiness directive (AD) for the inspections and early replacement of intermediate pressure (IP) blades on the Trent 1000s, following the serious accident on a Norwegian Boeing 787 in Rome in August.
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Léo Barnier
Specialized journalist
Industry & Technology, Equipments, MRO
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