A defective Rolls-Royce (RR.) Trent 1000 engine scattered components over a suburb of Rome just after a Norwegian Air flight to Los Angeles took off on 10 August, plunging the aerospace engineer into a fresh crisis over its embattled engine programme.
Rolls-Royce is spending heavily to salvage its Trent 1000s, after it identified separate durability issues related to chemical corrosion, its high pressure turbine blades and compressor blades. At its half-year results last week, Rolls-Royce lifted its in-service cost estimates by £100m across the next three years, recognising that it has failed to reduce the number of aircraft grounded by engine issues as speedily as it originally targeted. The group expects the 2019 full-year impact to now sit around £450m-£500m.
A report in The Times said that 25 cars and 12 houses were damaged after metal fragments fell from a Norwegian Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s Trent 1000 over the Roman suburb of Fiumicino just after take-off. A Norwegian Air spokesperson told the Investors Chronicle that the flight “experienced a technical issue a few minutes after take-off”. The airline is investigating the incident alongside Aeroporti di Roma and the Italian authorities.
Rolls-Royce shares fell by as much as 3 per cent in morning trading. A Rolls spokesperson said: “We are aware of the event and are working with our customer to provide support and technical assistance.” She said that the company was unable to speculate on the cause of the incident owing to the open investigation, for which Rolls pledged its support.
