Singapore Airlines Grounds Two Boeing 787 Dreamliners on Rolls-Royce Engine Issues

   By Robert Wall 
 

LONDON--Singapore Airlines Ltd. said Tuesday that it has had to park two Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners because of excessive wear-and-tear affecting components on their Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC engines.

The airline is using replacement aircraft with fewer seats, so some passenger trips could be affected, the carrier said.

The problem is linked to Rolls-Royce's Trent 1000 TEN engine, the newest version used on the Dreamliner. "During recent routine inspections of Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 TEN engines on Singapore Airlines' Boeing 787-10 fleet, premature blade deterioration was found on some engines," the carrier said.

Singapore Airlines said it has completed checks on all its 787-10s and on Wednesday planned to complete inspection of engines on a 787-9 operated by its budget carrier Scoot.

Rolls-Royce, whose earnings have been hit repeatedly because of premature aging of Trent 1000 engine components across a number of versions, said it alerted customers that some components of the TEN variant could wear out early.

"In anticipation of limited turbine-blade life, our engineers have already developed and are testing an enhanced version of this blade. We will now work closely with any impacted customers to deliver an accelerated program to implement the enhanced blade and to ensure that we can deliver on our Trent 1000 TEN future commitments," the British aircraft-engine maker said in a statement.

Write to Robert Wall at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 02, 2019 03:55 ET (07:55 GMT)

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