Gulf Air, Bahrains national carrier, has awarded Rolls-Royce a US$900mn contract for Trent 1000 engines to power 10 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, including service support
Gulf Air also has the option to purchase the same engine to power a further six of its Boeing 787-9s. The airline previously selected Rolls-Royce?s Trent 700 engine to power its current wide body fleet.
?We have experience of the Trent engine and its durability and resilience in a variety of operating conditions and we are confident the Trent 1000 will deliver the same outstanding performance,? said Gulf Air chief executive Maher Salman Al Musallam.
Rolls-Royce civil aerospace president Eric Schulz said the engine had won more than 60 per cent of competitions in the last six years.
The signing was witnessed by Bahrain?s minister of transportation and telecommunications Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed, ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to United Kingdom Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa and British Ambassador to Bahrain Simon Martin.
Gulf Air?s restructured aircraft orders, announced in earlier this year, comprise 45 aircraft in total with deliveries commencing from Q2 2018.
The announcement of the new deal follows the recent release of Gulf Air's 2015 financial and operational results, which showed the airline's ongoing positive development.
Rolls-Royce powered the very first Boeing 787 test flight in December 2009, the first 787-8 to enter service in October 2011, and the first 787-9 to enter service, in 2014.
