Rolls-Royce celebrates 30 years of the Trent engine

The Rolls-Royce Trent engine family is celebrating 30 years since entry into service, having proven itself as the most successful engine family yet. It has accumulated more than 200 million engine flying hours and transported 3.5 billion people around the world.

The Trent 700 was the first Trent engine to enter service on the Airbus A330 in 1995 and the cornerstone of Rolls-Royce’s subsequent success in the market. The family is made up of the Trent 700, Trent 800, Trent 500, Trent 900, Trent 1000, Trent XWB and Trent 7000. In 2010 there were 1,500 Trent engines in service; today it is nearer 6,000, with a Rolls-Royce powered aircraft taking off or landing every 3sec, highlighting the unique success, reputation and customer endorsement of the Trent engine.

Inherent within the Trent engine design is a philosophy of continuous improvement. The robust and proven three-shaft architecture is scalable, enabling each new Trent to deliver the thrust requirement for its specific aircraft application while incorporating the latest in materials, component and subsystem design and technology. This philosophy also enables the latest matured new technology to be inserted back into earlier in-service Trent engines. These in-service upgrades provide improvements in capability, efficiency, reliability and durability and ensure its engines improve with age.

100% SAF compatibility
As a result, since entry into service of the Trent family, fuel consumption has been reduced by 15%, with the Trent XWB the most efficient large aero engine in service and reliability has been improved eight-fold, meaning a delay or cancellation is a lifetime away for passengers; and with 100% SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) compatibility across the Trent engine family, its fast-tracking the transition to ‘net zero’ flight.

The Trent engine’s journey is underpinned by the services that support it. Shortly after the entry into service of the first Trent, Rolls-Royce introduced a new service that aligned the interest of the airlines to the engine manufacturer — TotalCare. This programme of support aligns to engine flying hours, providing risk transfer and maintenance cost certainty to airlines.

The services — collectively known as the CareStore — have continuously evolved to cater for the rise of the leasing companies, the engine‘s progression through its natural life cycle and the development of digital technologies. The CareStore services are available for airlines, freight operators and lessors and over an extended period of cover — unique traits in the market.

Additionally, Rolls-Royce continues to innovate with services that provide its customers with insights into their fleet operation, allowing them to predict fleet health and take the unwanted surprises out of their operation with 99% dispatch reliability.

Industry firsts
From humble beginnings at the Midland Hotel in Manchester over 100 years ago, Rolls-Royce’s history is rich with aviation firsts, perhaps perfectly illustrated by the first bypass gas turbine engine (the Conway), and the world’s first passenger flight using 100% SAF across the Atlantic on a Trent 1000 powered Boeing 787 in 2023.

Other notable firsts such as the super-efficient wide chord hollow titanium fan blades, and the durable three-shaft core architecture are all features that are unique to the Trent engine family. Each innovation delivers proven versatility and industry leading utilisation, providing its customers with maximum revenue generation potential. The Trent XWB will soon deliver another industry first when it powers the longest non-stop passenger flight from London to Sydney.

What makes Rolls-Royce truly unique is its people. Many of its engineers enjoy decades-long careers at Rolls-Royce and three generation of employees can be found throughout the organisation — and the next generation is already at work though its graduate and apprenticeship programmes, ensuring its customers and partners can rely on an enduring pipeline of talent.

Rolls-Royce is currently investing over £1 billion in a programme of engine upgrades, including a Durability Enhancement package on the Trent 1000 and Trent 7000 which has proven to more than double engine time on wing.

Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce is forging ahead with UltraFan, a demonstrator aero engine which is the largest in the world. UltraFan contains a suite of new technologies that deliver greater fuel efficiency and lower emissions. The UltraFan demonstrator is designed for the future and will be ready to run on 100% SAF from day one.