Rolls-Royce announces order of Trent XWB-97 engines from Air India

British engineering company Rolls-Royce on Tuesday announced that it has received an order from Air India for 68 Trent XWB-97 engines, in addition to an option for 20 more.

The large A350 aircraft of Airbus are powered by Rolls-Royce XWB engines.

Air India on Tuesday sealed an order for procuring 250 Airbus passenger jets. The order comprises 40 Airbus A350s and 210 Airbus A320/321 aircraft. Separately, Air India ordered 220 planes from Boeing.

"This is the biggest ever order for the Trent XWB-97, which exclusively powers the Airbus A350-1000. Air India has also ordered 12 Trent XWB-84, engines, the sole engine option for the Airbus A350-900," the company said in a statement.

It said this is the first time that an Indian airline has ordered the Trent XWB and the deal will make Air India the largest operator of the Trent XWB-97 in the world.

Rolls-Royce Tufan Erginbilgic said that the announcement marks an "exciting and truly remarkable" occasion for Tata Group and Air India.

"The size and magnitude of this order reflects the level of their ambition for the future. I congratulate them on taking this bold step towards becoming one of the world's greatest airlines," he said.

"Air India is the first Indian airline to order the Trent XWB and the size of the commitment, including options, will make them the biggest operator of the Trent XWB-97 in the world," Erginbilgic said.

The Rolls-Royce said Trent XWB will support Tata Group and Air India's ambitious growth plans for the airline, providing reliability, flexibility and efficiency to its fleet as it takes on "ultra-long-range routes" between India and the US.

It said the choice of the latest generation of Rolls-Royce engines also reflects "Tata Group's vision for Air India to become the world's most technologically advanced airline, with a focus on service, competing on the world stage to deliver best-in-class customer experience."

Campbell Wilson, CEO, Air India, said: "We are delighted to commence this partnership with Rolls-Royce, and to have their Trent XWB engines power our new fleet of A350 aircraft."

"We are confident that they will provide us with the reliability and efficiency consumers expect of today's leading airlines, and thereby play an important part in Vihaan.AI, Air India's comprehensive transformation and growth strategy," he said, according to the statement by Rolls Royce.

It said Rolls-Royce already has long-standing partnerships with the Tata Group.

"These include a strong supply chain commitment with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) for the manufacture of a significant number of parts for the Trent XWB engine in India, as well as several high-precision components for other Rolls-Royce civil aerospace engines," it said.

"In addition, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) provides engineering services, particularly to support our digital engineering and data innovation teams in India," the company said.