Rolls wins share of Boeing contract

ROLLS-ROYCE has won a halfshare of a $60bn (£33bn) contract from Boeing in what is set to be the most valuable aeroengine manufacturing programme in civil aviation history.

The Derby-based aerospace giant has been told that it and American arch-rival General Electric have been selected by Boeing to provide engines for the revolutionary 7E7 Dreamliner.

The 7E7 is set to go into service in 2008, Boeing's first new aircraft model in more than a decade.

The US manufacturer says the long-range, 200-300 seater 7E7 will dramatically alter airline travel in the future, producing the most fuelefficient and environmentally friendly aircraft on the market. Being reckons it could build up to 3000 7E7s over 20 years and R-R and GE will deliver engines throughout the life of the programme.

The value of the deal to the engine-makers is likely to be billions of pounds more in the longterm as the new 7E7 technology - using lighter, more flexible composites rather than aluminium and metals - is expected to be also used in a new 747 Advanced jumbo jet. Boeing says that aircraft - capable of carrying 470 passengers - could be in production by the end of the decade and would use the same R-R and GE engines. R-R is to build the latest in its mainstay Trent engine family for the programme, the Trent 1000, and has indicated the contract will be a money-spinner.

'This is a highly significant decision [by Boeing] and we expect this programme to provide good financial returns,' said R-R chief executive Sir John Rose.

The Trent 1000 will be designed and built at R-R's Derby headquarters. Boeing 7E7 director Mike Bair may announce launch customers for the aircraft as early as the summer. 'The Trent 1000 will set new standards of performance and enable the 7E7 to fly, higher, faster, farther, cleaner and quieter than ever before,' said Bair.

Boeing's commercial aircraft chief Alan Mulally says the costefficient 7E7 could revolutionise transatlantic travel.