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Rolls-Royce congratulates Air China and Airbus on first A350 delivery to mainland China

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c today joined Air China and Airbus to celebrate the delivery of the first 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 Beijing, 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 Air China and Airbus on the first A350 delivery to mainland China, which marks another new chapter in the A350 global success story. We are proud to deliver engines with industry-leading reliability, excellent fuel efficiency and environmental performance to a highly valued customer serving one of the world's largest civil aviation markets."

Air China, the national flag carrier, has ordered a total of 10 A350s, and was the first in China to operate the Boeing 787-9 powered by the Trent 1000. With more than 60 Trent 700 powered A330s in operation, they also have the largest A330 fleet in the world.

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.

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.
This press release was sourced from Rolls-Royce on 08-Aug-2018.