Posted inMiddle East

Emirates says some technical issues with Rolls-Royce A380 engines

President Tim Clark says he still hopes to take delivery of new jets on December 2, as scheduled

Emirates Airline is having some
unspecified technical issues with Rolls-Royce engines for
A380 jets that are coming up for delivery, but still
hopes to take the first one as scheduled in December, the
airline’s president said on Friday.

When asked whether Emirates was looking to defer A380 jet
deliveries given a tough operating environment for airlines, Tim
Clark said no, but that there were some technical issues with
the Rolls-Royce engines, new for the Emirates fleet, that needed
to be ironed out.

“We want the engines as prescribed in the contract,” Clark
said at a meeting with journalists in Berlin, declining to
elaborate.

Emirates is due to receive its first A380 powered by
Rolls-Royce engines on Dec 2. The rest of its A380 fleet uses
Engine Alliance, a joint venture of General Electric and
Pratt & Whitney.

A spokesman for Rolls-Royce said: “We are working with
Emirates and Airbus to meet the planned entry into service of
the Trent powered A380 within the Emirates fleet.”

The $9.2 billion deal for Rolls-Royce to supply engines for
50 Emirates A380 planes, announced in April 2015, was the
largest order in the history of the British company.

Shares in Rolls-Royce were down 2.0 percent at 1028 GMT.

Clark said he hoped the airline could still take the first
superjumbo with Rolls-Royce engines on Dec 2, as scheduled.

“We have made no hard and fast decisions about fleeting draw
down. We’re hoping to get a resolution to this very quickly,” he
said.

Emirates has $112 billion of aircraft on order, including 55
A380s. It is due to receive 5 A380s in December alone, Clark
said.

“We are working with our customers, supporting their
delivery stream,” an Airbus spokesman said.

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