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Trent XWB
Type	Turbofan
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Rolls-Royce Holdings
First run	14 June 2010
Major applications	Airbus A350
Developed from	Rolls-Royce Trent

The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB is a high-bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce Holdings. In July 2006, the Trent XWB was selected to exclusively power the Airbus A350. The first engine was run on 14 June 2010, it first flew on an A380 testbed on 18 February 2012, it was certified in early 2013, and it first flew on an A350 on 14 June 2013. It had its first in-flight shutdown on 11 September 2018 as the fleet accumulated 2.2 million flight hours. It keeps the characteristic three-shaft layout of the Rolls-Royce Trent, with a 3.00 m (118 in) fan, an IP and HP spool. The 84,200–97,000 lbf (375–431 kN) engine has a 9.6:1 bypass ratio and a 50:1 pressure ratio. It is the most powerful member of the Trent family.

Development

By 2004 Airbus had been facing pressure from customers to develop a competitor to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, then in October 2005 launched the A350, at the time an improved A330. Rolls-Royce initially offered a conventional bleed air engine variant of the Trent 1000 with a throttle-push to 75,000 lbf (330 kN) static thrust, the Trent 1700.

In 2006, after a review of the Airbus A350, Rolls-Royce reached an agreement to supply all versions of the aircraft with a brand-new Trent XWB variant with 75,000 to 95,000 lbf (330 to 420 kN) of thrust.

Before the December 2008 design freeze, Airbus established that the A350's empty weight was 2.2t greater than the 133.5t target. Due to this, the MTOW was increased by 3t in order to maintain the payload and range capability. As a further result, Rolls-Royce announced that the nominal engine thrusts were increased slightly, each variant receiving an additional 1,000 lbf (4 kN) thrust. A350 programme chief Didier Evrard was quoted as saying that the change had a "very marginal" impact on fuel consumption.

This was then revised again in 2011, and the engines for the largest A350 have been uprated to 97,000 lbf (430 kN) to meet new performance requirements, and better compete with the Boeing 777-300ER.

Testing

The first engine test on a static test-bed was made on 14 June 2010. On 18 February 2012, Airbus announced that the Trent XWB had successfully made its maiden flight aboard Airbus’ dedicated Airbus A380 flying test bed. By October, the first engine was expected to enter service in 2014. Certification for the early engine variants was achieved in early 2013. The first flight of the Trent XWB powering the Airbus A350 XWB took place on 14 June 2013.

On 15 May 2014 Rolls-Royce delivered the first production 84,000 lbf (370 kN) thrust Trent XWB engines intended for the first Airbus A350 XWB to enter service with Qatar Airways. Final assembly of these production engines had started in February 2014. On 15 July 2014 Rolls-Royce announced the first run of the Trent XWB-97 powerplant with 97,000 lbf (430 kN) thrust for the Airbus A350-1000.

Operations

On 26 July 2017, Airbus delivered the 100th A350, on track for 10 per month by 2018 end, and over the first 30 months most engine removals have been to stagger the on-wing life of a particular aircraft or to collect in-service data; nine in ten of the Trent XWBs have a long-term service agreements with Rolls, which has designated seven shops as MRO providers: its Derby facility, its joint ventures with HAECO, SIAEC, N3 Engine Overhaul Services [de] and independents Delta TechOps, Mubadala and Air France Industries-KLM. It passed 1 million flight hours in October 2017 without any in-flight disruptions and with a dispatch reliability of 99.4%.

By February 2018, it has completed 1.3 million flight hours with a 99.9% dispatch reliability. It took two years to reach one million flying hours and nine months for the second million by July 2018, as 500 were delivered; at that time, it had a 99.9% dispatch reliability and had had no in-flight shutdown. As the fleet accumulated 2.2 million flight hours and the leading engine has operated 3,500 cycles, an Iberia A350-900 delivered at the end of July diverted to Boston after an inflight shutdown at 41,000 ft on the September 11, 2018 flight from New York to Madrid, apparently due to slight secondary damage on variable stator vanes.

In 2019, the unit losses on the XWB-84 were reduced by over 20%, as Rolls-Royce expects break-even by the end of 2020, while fleet-leading engines had flown over 22,000h without a shop visit. The higher-thrust XWB-97 for the A350-1000 remains a loss-maker, and could stay that way as extending time-on-wing is more profitable.

In 2023 Dubai Airshow, the president of the Emirates, Tim Clark, said the A350-1000's engine, Trent XWB-97, would offer only a quarter of the time between maintenance visits compared to their needs. Citigroup analysts claim these comments form part of the airline's "commercial negotiation" tactics involving prices or guarantees. They claim the higher thrust 97-XWB would be expected to run at higher temperatures with faster wear, particularly in hot and sandy climates, noting Qatar Airways operates the Trent XWB-97 without major issues. Rolls-Royce was later reported to be working with Emirates to improve durability in "hot and sandy conditions"

On September 2, 2024, a Trent XWB powered Cathay Pacific A350-1000 suffered an in-flight engine fire, following which the aircraft was able to land safely. The airline conducted an inspection of all 48 of its A350s, finding several with a defect similar to the incident aircraft, said to be a damaged flexible fuel line. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency announced that it would require a one-time inspection of Trent XWB engines as a result of the incident.

Design

The Trent XWB is an axial flow, high bypass turbofan keeping the characteristic coaxial three-shaft architecture of the Rolls-Royce Trent. The 3.00 m (118 in) fan is driven by a 6-stage turbine, an 8-stage IP compressor is powered by a 2-stage turbine and a 6-stage HP compressor is turned by a single stage turbine, rotating in the opposite direction of the two others. The annular combustor has 20 fuel spray nozzles and the engine is controlled by a dual-channel FADEC. The Trent XWB features a 2-stage IP turbine rather than a single stage from previous Trent engines.

The 97,000 lbf (430 kN) engine version for the A350-1000 maintains the same 3.0 m fan size and a 5% larger core, the additional thrust will require the fan to run 6% faster which will require strengthening to withstand the increased fan-blade forces produced. It has thicker titanium fan blades and a stronger fan casing and takes advantage of technologies developed through the European Environmentally Friendly Engine (EFE) research programme. Its core operating temperature capability will be increased.

Orders

On 18 June 2007, Rolls-Royce announced that it had signed a contract with Qatar Airways worth US$5.6 billion at list prices, to power 80 Airbus A350 XWBs: US$35 million each.

A large contract with Emirates to power 70 aircraft with Trent XWBs was announced on 11 November 2007, but never filled. The announced contract concerned 50 A350-900 and 20 A350-1000 aircraft, with a further 50 option rights. Due to be delivered from 2014, the Emirates order was potentially worth up to $8.4 billion at list prices, including options. However, on 11 June 2014, Airbus announced that Emirates Airline had decided to cancel its order of 70 A350 XWB aircraft.

More than 1,500 engines had been sold by July 2015 to 40 customers. Rolls-Royce offered its maintenance programme to Vietnam Airlines for £340 million for 14 airplanes, or £12.1 million per engine.

On 15 December 2023, Rolls-Royce announced that Turkish Airlines had ordered 100 XWB-84 and 40 XWB-97 engines. In addition to the airline's existing 66 Trent engines, resulting in a total of nearly 210, the airline has become the largest operator of Trent XWB engines.

Variants

Specifications

See also

Related development

• Rolls-Royce Trent 1000

Comparable engines

• General Electric GEnx
• General Electric GE9X

Related lists

• List of aircraft engines

Notes

1. swept fan, low hub:tip ratio
2. one more IP stage than previous Trents, air-cooled HPT and IPT, uncooled LPT
3. tip of spinner to rear of Cold Nozzle

References

1. "PICTURE: A350's Trent XWB engine runs for first time". Flightglobal.com. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
2. David Kaminski-Morrow (6 October 2005). "Rolls-Royce to develop Trent 1700 for A350". Flight International.
3. Guy Norris (25 July 2006). "Farnborough: Airbus A350 powerplant race ignites as Rolls-Royce reaches agreement to supply Trent, Alliance confirms interest". Flight International.
4. Max Kingsley-Jones (13 May 2009). "Airbus revises A350 Trent XWB thrust values following weight increases". Flight International.
5. Aubrey Cohen (20 June 2011). "Airbus delays A350-1000, boosts thrust". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Archived from the original on 29 June 2019.
6. David Kaminski-Morrow (18 June 2010). "A350's Trent XWB engine runs for first time". Flight Global.
7. Dominic Perry (18 February 2012). "Trent XWB powerplant makes maiden sortie". Flight Global.
8. Dominic Perry (23 October 2012). "Airbus advances towards first flight of A350 twinjet". Flightglobal.
9. "Trent XWB achieves important milestone with award of EASA type certification" (Press release). Rolls-Royce. 7 February 2013. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023.
10. "World's most fuel efficient engine powers first flight" (Press release). Rolls-Royce. 14 June 2013.
11. "Rolls-Royce dispatches first Trent XWB for entry into service" (Press release). Rolls-Royce. 15 May 2014.
12. "Rolls-Royce starts final assembly of Trent XWB production engine for entry into service" (Press release). Rolls-Royce. 10 February 2014.
13. "Higher-thrust Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine runs for first time" (Press release). Rolls-Royce. 15 July 2014.
14. Sean Broderick (31 August 2017). "Issues With Newest Engines Provide Early MRO-Proving Opportunities". Aviation Week Network.
15. Madhu Unnikrishnan (12 November 2017). "Rolls-Royce Marks One Millionth Hour For Trent XWB". Aviation Week Network.
16. David Kaminski-Morrow (21 February 2018). "Rolls-Royce 'confident' XWB will not suffer Trent 1000 issues". Flightglobal.
17. "Rolls-Royce Trent XWB celebrates new milestones" (Press release). Rolls-Royce. 15 July 2018.
18. Guy Norris (17 September 2018). "Rolls Reaffirms A350 Diversion Unrelated To Trent 1000 Issues". Aviation Week Network.
19. David Kaminski-Morrow (28 February 2020). "Rolls-Royce nears break-even delivery for A350-900 powerplant". Flightglobal.
20. David Kaminski-Morrow (28 February 2020). "Rolls-Royce could choose not to break-even on A350-1000 engine". Flightglobal.
21. Hepher, Tim; Cornwell, Alexander; Magid, Pesha (14 November 2023). "Emirates holds off on Airbus A350 order in engine rift". Reuters. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
22. "Rolls-Royce defends A350-1000 engine from Emirates criticism". Reuters. 14 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
23. "Rolls-Royce 'defective' engine barb from Emirates all part of negotiations, says analyst". Proactiveinvestors UK. 15 November 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
24. Kamel, Deena (16 November 2023). "Rolls-Royce to work with Emirates on jet engine performance issues, senior executive says". The National. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
25. Hradecky, Simon (5 September 2024). "Incident: Cathay Pacific A35k at Hong Kong on Sep 2nd 2024, engine fire". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
26. Philip, Siddharth (5 September 2024). "Airbus A350 Checks Ordered by EASA After Cathay Engine Fire". BNN Bloomberg. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
27. ^ "Type certificate data sheet E.111" (PDF). EASA. 1 April 2019.
28. ^ Chris Kjelgaard (June 2016). "Trent XWB". Air International. pp. 48–51.
29. Andrew Doyle (6 March 2009). "R-R details Trent XWB development strategy". Flight International.
30. "Rolls-Royce inks biggest-ever sale". Flight Global. 19 June 2007.
31. "Emirates places $8.4bn order for Rolls-Royce Trent XWB" (Press release). Rolls-Royce. 11 November 2007.
32. "Airbus and Emirates Airline agree to cancel A350 XWB order". Airbus. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
33. Robin Johnson (29 July 2015). "Derby's Rolls-Royce signs £340m engine support deal with Vietnam Airlines". derby telegraph. Archived from the original on 17 September 2015.
34. "Rolls-Royce announces Turkish Airlines will become largest operator of Trent XWB engines as Türkiye's national airline selects 70 Airbus A350 aircraft". www.rolls-royce.com. 15 December 2023.
35. ^ "Trent-XWB infographic" (PDF). Rolls-Royce. May 2017.

• Airbus A350
• High-bypass turbofan engines
• Rolls-Royce aircraft gas turbine engines
• 2010s turbofan engines