ATLANTA - Delta Air Lines has become the inaugural operator of an Airbus A350-900 equipped with the new "Enhanced Performance" (EP) variant of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-84 engine. Rolls-Royce claims a 1% reduction in specific fuel burn from this powerplant, which received aircraft-level certification in April. The manufacturer says these performance gains were achieved through systems engineering and optimization based on in-service performance data, rather than incorporating new technologies.
The development of the Trent XWB-EP is part of a larger £1 billion ($1.35 billion) investment by Rolls-Royce aimed at improving its in-production Trent engine family. This initiative also includes upcoming durability enhancements for the Trent 1000, an option for the Boeing 787, designed to double its time-on-wing by improving high-pressure turbine blade life, which has historically posed availability challenges. Further upgrades for the Trent 1000 and Trent 7000 (powering A330neos), also focusing on the HPT blade, are slated for testing this year with an expected rollout in 2026, projected to deliver an additional 30% time-on-wing gain.
Rolls-Royce is also ground testing new components for the Trent XWB-97, which powers the A350-1000. These enhancements, constituting the largest portion of the £1 billion investment, involve redesigned HPT blades, nozzle guide vanes, ceramic matrix composite seal segments, and combustor optimization, with a rollout target of 2028. These modifications are specifically aimed at improving durability in hot and sandy environments. Furthermore, Rolls-Royce is nearing completion of flight tests for the latest iteration of its ALECSys lean-burn combustor, which has demonstrated a 40% reduction in NOx emissions and is a crucial component for the future UltraFan engine.
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