Contract Valued At $800 Million

Rolls-Royce announced Tuesday International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) has confirmed an order for the Trent XWB engine to power its fleet of 20 firm Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, due for delivery starting April 2014.

The contract is valued at $800 million at engine list prices, and makes ILFC the largest single customer for the Rolls-Royce Trent family. The Trent XWB is the fifth version to be ordered by ILFC, whose portfolio now includes 61 Trent-powered widebody aircraft, with a further 70 on order.

"The Trent XWB, specifically designed for the Airbus A350 XWB, offers our customers high levels of efficiency and low operating costs -- an attractive combination for lessors," said ILFC CEO Steven F. Udvar-Hazy.

As ANN reported last month, ILFC amended its previous order for the first version of the A350, to 20 firm committments for -800 and -900 variants of the heavily revised A350 XWB.

Sir John Rose, Chief Executive, Rolls-Royce, added: "This is a significant order for the latest member of the Trent family from our biggest Trent customer. The Trent XWB will offer ILFC's customers outstanding levels of performance for the A350 XWB whilst minimising its environmental impact."

FMI: www.rollsroyce.com, www.ilfc.com, www.airbus.com