Rolls-Royce has broken ground on a new facility in Le Haillan near Bordeaux, France. The site will play an important role in the production support of the Rolls-Royce Pearl 10X engine, which exclusively powers Dassault’s brand-new Falcon 10X aircraft.
Construction of the new 2,000 sqmm
2 production support centre, which will house offices, a workshop and a warehouse, begins later this year and will be finished in the first half of 2023. The facility will become part of the global Rolls-Royce support network and will be complemented by the powerful customer service infrastructure of more than 75 Authorised Service Centres, by On-Wing Services specialists in the USA, Europe, Middle East and Asia as well as a number of spare parts, lease engine and storage locations, all placed strategically around the world.
Dr Philipp Zeller, Rolls-Royce senior vice president for Dassault, said: “While the Pearl 10X engine development programme for the Dassault Falcon 10X is making good progress, we are already working in parallel on establishing the infrastructure to support Dassault’s flight test activities and its production line. This new facility will further strengthen our partnership with Dassault and it will ensure the delivery of the class-leading customer support already associate with the name Rolls‑Royce.”
Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce and Air China have announced they are entering into a new 50/50 joint venture (JV) maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Beijing, China. The new facility, BAESL (Beijing Aero Engine Services Co Ltd), will provide MRO support on the Rolls-Royce Trent 700, Trent XWB-84 and Trent 1000 aero engines. Air China currently has all three engine types in its fleet; and at full capacity, which is expected to be achieved in the mid 2030s, BAESL will be able to support up to 250 shop visits per year.
Chris Cholerton, Rolls-Royce’s president — Civil Aerospace — said: “The announcement of this JV is an important milestone for Rolls-Royce in China, where we have been powering the nation’s airlines for more than 50 years. Air China is a strategic partner for us, having successfully grown together over many years, and I am delighted to now expand our relationship and look forward to continued growth of our collaboration.”