Ethiopian keeps faith with Rolls-Royce TotalCare for A350-1000 powerplants

July 10, 2023 in Companies, Foreign News by Editor

Flag carrier Ethiopian airlines has signed a TotalCare® service agreement with engine maker Rolls-Royce for the Trent XWB-97 engines that will power four new Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, extending a pact that started with its A350-900s and Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

The contract was signed during a visit by the airline to Rolls-Royce’s Civil Aerospace headquarters in Derby, July 7, with Rolls-Royce Chief Customer Officer, Ewen McDonald praising Ethiopians’ trail-brazing role for African aviation.

“Ethiopian Airlines has led the way in Africa as the first operator of the A350-900 and will be the first to introduce the A350-1000 in service. We look forward to providing a TotalCare service that maximises performance for both the Trent XWB-84 and Trent XWB-97,” he said.

In a rejoinder, Ethiopian’s chief executive Mesfin Tasew, said the carrier had experience using the Rolls-Royce TotalCare service “to ensure Trent 1000 and Trent XWB-84 engine availability and reliability and we are pleased to extend this service to the Trent XWB-97 model, which powers the A350-1000 aircraft.

“We value the strong relationship we have built over the years with Rolls-Royce, and as we celebrate 50 years of flights to the UK, we continue to look forward to the implementation of this TotalCare agreement for the latest addition to our fleet with the introduction of the modern A350-1000 aircraft.”

TotalCare, which will provide Ethiopian with predictable costs for services and maintenance, is a popular package that has been subscribed to by nearly 90pc of Rolls-Royce two dozen airline customers in Africa, including Uganda Airlines.

The engine maker says it is designed to provide operational certainty for customers by transferring time on wing and maintenance cost risk back to Rolls-Royce. “This industry-leading premium service offering is supported by data delivered through the Rolls-Royce advanced engine health monitoring system, which helps provide customers with increased operational availability, reliability and efficiency.”

The Trent XWB-84 already powers 20 Ethiopian Airlines A350-900 aircraft in service while its stablemate, the Trent 1000 powers ten Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, all supported by TotalCare.