Rolls Royce has delivered the first higher thrust Trent XWB-97 engine to Airbus, developed to power the stretched in-development Airbus ...
Rolls Royce has delivered the first higher thrust Trent XWB-97 engine to Airbus, developed to power the stretched in-development Airbus A350-1000 airliner.
The engine will be flight tested on a Airbus A380 Flying Test Bed aircraft, ahead of clearing for integration on A350-1000. The engine has been fitted with the nacelle supplied by UTC Aerospace Systems.
The oversized engine was transported from Rolls Royce Derby facility to Toulouse, onboard a Antonov An-124-100 Ruslan transport aircraft.
The present Airbus A350-900 is powered by the Trent XWB-84 – the world’s most efficient large aero engine.
The Trent XWB -97, as its designation suggests, is a 97,000lb thrust engine and is the more powerful sister engine of the -84. The engine has undergoing rigorous test regime and first flight is targeted for later this year on the Airbus A380 FTB.
The Trent XWB-97 will be the highest thrust engine we have ever certified, the highest operating temperatures and the most advanced cooling systems we have ever designed in a civil engine
The front fan has the same number of blades and is the same diameter at 118 inches but it runs around six per cent faster. The engine core has been scaled up in size to cope with the consequential increased airflow into the compressor and, in this engine, the combustor and turbines run hotter than in the -84.
Airbus is targeting first flight for A350-1000 in 2016, followed by entry into service in 2017. In a typical three-class configuration, featuring Airbus’ 18-inch-wide comfort Economy seats, the A350-1000 seats a total of 366 passengers along with a range of 7,900 nautical miles. The aircraft also can be configured for a higher-density layout to accommodate up to 440 passengers.
