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SCMP Reporter

BRITISH aircraft-engine maker Rolls-Royce denies there is any risk to future orders for its Trent 700 engine, which yesterday caused the grounding of 15 aircraft of Cathay Pacific Airlines and Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (Dragonair).

  The problem with the engine was discovered after a Dragonair pilot flying to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia had trouble with oil pressure and was forced to land on one engine in Manila.

 Rolls-Royce said the situation was under control, but sources said it could take a month to correct problems with all the engines in service.

 Rolls-Royce has a US$920 million order book for the engine to be fitted on 46 Airbus Industrie aircraft over the next few years.

 Cathay Pacific, which yesterday grounded 11 aircraft, is the biggest operator of the Trent 700, though will soon to be overtaken by Emirates Air, which wants 23 aircraft fitted with two Trents each.

 Rolls-Royce spokesman Peter Barnes-Wallis said there was no reason problems experienced by Cathay should cause a change of mind among customers of the Trent 700.

 'In some ways, this does not have a bearing on the new orders, because we have identified the problems and are building in the solution,' he said.

 Garuda Indonesia, the Indonesian flag carrier which has 12 Trents on its six A330-300 aircraft, said it intended to continue flying its planes.

 Rolls-Royce blamed the problems with the Trent 700 on bearings in its gearbox, whose design and manufacture is sub-contracted to Hispano-Suiza, an aeronautical equipment manufacturer wholly owned by French state-owned Snecma.

 Rolls-Royce said it was working with Hispano-Suiza and through its joint venture with Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co to rectify the problem.

 It is thought bearings used in the Trent gearbox have a shorter lifespan than envisaged and need replacing, and that the lubrication system also is at risk.

 'We have a long-term design solution to alter the gearbox, replace the bearings and change the lubrication system,' Mr Barnes-Wallis said.

 The fault in the Trent 700 follows a problem last year with the power plant on the larger Trent 800, which powers Boeing's 777 twin-jet aircraft.

 On that occasion, Thai Airways International had to send two of its Trent 800 engines back to Rolls-Royce, after evidence of metal debris was found during routine ground inspections.

 Although this is thought to be unconnected, the problems with the 800 also were with the gearbox, which had cracked and which also had been designed by Hispano-Suiza.

 Design of the Trent 800 gearbox already has been changed.

 Prior to the grounding of their aircraft, Cathay had been re-routing some flights to keep them always within one hour of an airport.

 Before the Manila incident, a Cathay aircraft is thought to have been forced to land on one engine at Bangkok, while a flight to the Philippines had to return to Kai Tak and make a similar landing.

 Other incidents involved a Dragonair flight to Shanghai and a Cathay flight to Vietnam.



Rolls-Royce denies Trent order risk