Rolls Royce Trent XWB The Airbus A350 XWB programme has achieved yet another important milestone with the European Aviation Safety Age...
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| Rolls Royce Trent XWB |
The Airbus A350 XWB programme has achieved yet another important milestone with the European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) awarding Engine Type Certification for the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB turbofan.
EASA presented the certificate to Rolls-Royce at EASA’s headquarters in Cologne, Germany.
This certification covers Trent XWB engines which will power the A350-800 and A350-900 variants. A higher thrust version of the Trent XWB is currently under development for the A350-1000.
Certification confirms the engine has fulfilled EASA’s airworthiness requirements for flight and is the last major engine milestone prior to the first flight of A350-900 ‘MSN001’ later this year.
The engines which will power that aircraft are now being prepared prior to installation of the fully integrated powerplant on the aircraft’s pylon.
The Trent XWB has already powered a series of test flights on Airbus A380 Flying Test Bed (FTB) aircraft since February 2012. These flight-test results indicate that the engine will meet Airbus’ extremely high efficiency and performance goals for the A350 XWB programme.
Certification testing for the Trent XWB began in 2010 with the first engine test bed run and has involved 11 individual engines running for more than 3,100 hours. It has been a global programme, including icing tests in Canada, hot weather tests in the UAE, altitude and crosswind tests in the USA, endurance tests in Spain and performance tests in the UK.
The Trent XWB, the fastest-selling Trent engine ever with more than 1,200 engines sold to 35 customers, is specifically designed for operation on the A350 XWB and will power all versions of the aircraft.
The A350 XWB is the all-new mid-size long range product line comprising three versions and seating between 270 and 350 passengers in typical three-class layouts.
The new family will bring a step change in efficiency compared with existing aircraft in this size category, using 25 per cent less fuel and providing an equivalent reduction in CO2 emissions.
Scheduled for entry-into-service in 2014, the A350 XWB has already won 617 firm orders from 35 customers worldwide.
