Middle Eastern carrier Emirates is to construct a new maintenance facility to start performing its own servicing of Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines fitted to its Airbus A380s.
Emirates says it wants to “secure” its own capability to maintain the powerplants.
It has reached an agreement with Rolls-Royce under which it will start servicing Trent 900s – carrying out fan-case repairs – in a newly-built facility from 2027.
Rolls-Royce will maintain module repair capability within the global network, says the airline
The manufacturer’s TotalCare service pact with Emirates is also being extended into the 2040s – the timeline over which Emirates plans to continue using the double-deck aircraft.
“We will be working closely with [the Rolls-Royce] team to bring the latest engine MRO capabilities into our facilities as part of our expansion of Emirates’ Engineering Maintenance Centre,” says Emirates head of engineering Ahmed Safa.
The agreement, the subject of a memorandum of understanding, has been disclosed at the Dubai air show.
About a quarter of Emirates’ overall fleet of 123 A380s had Trent 900 engines, with the majority equipped with Engine Alliance GP7200 powerplants. Some of the carrier’s A380s have been withdrawn or retired and its current fleet of the type is around 116.
Emirates says the MRO deal ”specifically” involves the Trent 900 and it does not have information regarding any ”similar arrangements” for the GP7200.
Rolls-Royce director of commercial aviation aftermarket operations Paul Keenan says the agreement with the airline “will allow for additional capacity” within the manufacturer’s network.
He points out that Emirates, through the arrangement, will be part of a network combines Rolls-Royce’s own facilities with joint ventures and other collaborative industry pacts.
Emirates disclosed two years ago that it was expanding its in-house engineering capabilities with a new complementary MRO centre at Dubai World Central.
