A350 XWB’s Trent XWB Engine Achieves EASA Type Certification

The Airbus A350 XWB programme has achieved an important milestone with the European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) award of the Engine Type Certification of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB turbofan.

The certification covers Trent XWB engines which will power the A350-800 and A350-900 variants. A higher thrust version of the Trent XWB is currently under development for the A350-1000.

Eric Schulz, President – Civil Large Engines, Rolls-Royce, said, “We are very proud to have achieved this significant milestone on the road to the A350 XWB’s entry into service. I would like to thank Airbus for their support and all of our partners and employees who contributed to the design and certification of the engine. Test results show we have produced the world’s most efficient large civil aero engine and we now look forward to the first flight later this year.”

Certification confirms the engine has fulfilled EASA’s airworthiness requirements for flight and is the last major engine milestone prior to the first flight of A350-900 ‘MSN001’ later this year. The engines which will power that aircraft are now being prepared prior to installation of the fully integrated powerplant on the aircraft’s pylon.

The Trent XWB has already powered a series of test flights on Airbus’ A380 Flying Test Bed (FTB) aircraft since February 2012. These flight-test results indicate that the engine will meet Airbus’ efficiency and performance goals for the A350 XWB programme.

The A350 XWB is the all-new mid-size long range product line comprising three versions and seating between 270 and 350 passengers in typical three-class layouts.

Scheduled for entry-into-service in 2014, the A350 XWB has already won 617 firm orders from 35 customers worldwide.