UK’s Rolls-Royce has announced the signing of a Trent XWB engine and long-term TotalCare® service agreement with China Eastern Airlines, involving the airline’s 20 Airbus A350-900 fleet and worth over CNY10 billion (over US$1.4bn).
China Eastern ordered 20 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft in 2016 to strengthen its widebody fleet for international routes and meet the needs of the fast-growing Chinese aviation market. Today’s agreement, which was signed at the China International Import Expo (CIIE), follows a Letter of Intent (LOI) signed in 2017. Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines are already used in all China Eastern Airlines’ 59 Airbus A330 aircraft in service.
Tang Bing, China Eastern Airlines, Executive Vice President, said: “The new A350 XWB aircraft will help China Eastern speed up our global expansion. The partnership with Rolls-Royce for engine and service supply will allow both the parties to benefit from each other’s advantages in terms of business scale, technology, development and cooperation, providing unparalleled experience to Chinese and international passengers.”
Paul Freestone, Rolls-Royce, Senior Vice President – Customers, Civil Aerospace, said: “We are proud to have signed this service agreement with China Eastern, a much-valued customer, at such a significant event. Our industry-leading TotalCare solution will ensure the optimal lifetime performance of these world-leading engines powering the excellent A350 aircraft.”
At the CIIE, Rolls-Royce also intends to secure a significant amount of business with a number of Chinese companies across different sectors, representing UK manufacturing on a global scale and demonstrating the importance of international trade - particularly important for the country's manufacturing sector given the continuing uncertainty around exactly how Brexit will impact both trade and domestic production.