Garuda gets first Trent-powered Airbus A300-300s

Garuda gets first Trent-powered Airbus A300-300s

The first of Garuda's six Airbus A330-300 planes, powered by
Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, is scheduled to arrive in Jakarta
today from Airbus Industrie in Toulouse, France. The Jakarta Post
sent its reporter Akmal Syams on an Indonesian media tour of
Rolls-Royce's base in Derby, England. He wrote the following
articles.

DERBY, England (JP): Passengers bound for Hong Kong, Taipei,
Japan, Guangzhou and Australia from Indonesia will soon be able
to fly Garuda Indonesia's newest jetliners powered by one of the
world's most powerful and environmentally friendly aircraft
engines, the Rolls-Royce Trent 700.

Today's delivery of Garuda's first Trent 700-powered Airbus
A330-300 aircraft is the latest chapter in Rolls-Royce's and the
Indonesian national flag carrier's relationship which began more
than a quarter of a century ago.

The British engine maker first sold Garuda Spey engines for
its fleet of Fokker F28 regional jets.

Garuda's latest purchase are Trent 700s from Rolls-Royce's
newest and strongest turbofan engine series. The first of the
series went into service in March 1995 for Cathay Pacific.

David Wick, the senior vice president for sales and marketing
of Rolls-Royce Commercial Aero Engines Limited, told a group of
Indonesian journalists here recently that development of the
Trent engine began in 1988 and the engine was first operated in
July 1992.

"It went through a more comprehensive and intensive set of
certification tests than any previous Rolls-Royce engine. It came
through punishing tests simulating the worst imaginable hail and
rain storms, and proved its ability to survive bird strike by
flocks and large single birds, and to contain a detached fan
blade."

"All these were successfully completed, and were backed by
endurance testing at extreme operational conditions --
accelerating thousands of hours of "service" experience," Wick
said.

Certificates

The Trent 700 was certificated at 72,000lb thrust in December
1993 by Europe's Joint Airworthiness Authorities and soon after
by the United States' Federal Aviation Administration. The engine
was first tested in an A330 at Airbus Industrie's flight test
center in Toulouse, France, in January 1994. A year later, the
engine-airframe combination was certificated for airlines.
Development of the Trent 700's big brother, the Trent 800,
followed about a year later: it was tested in September 1993,
certificated in January 1995, debuted in the Boeing 777 in May
1995 and began service operations with Thai Airways International
in March this year.

Trent marketing head James E. Sheard said Rolls-Royce
developed the Trent series to meet increasing demand for more
economical and environmentally-friendly engines: "So, the Trent
is, actually, Rolls-Royce's answer to the new market
development."

Airlines' needs were paramount when leading aircraft makers
began designing a new generation of wide-bodied airplanes.

"With the aircraft needing to carry up to 350 passengers, the
engines must be more powerful than ever before, and more
reliable, quieter and fuel efficient," Sheard said.

Compared to its competitors, Trents had the shortest take-off
field length, best payload range, lowest operating cost (lowest
fuel burn) and were the quietest (large margin to emission
regulations), he said.

Based on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
committee for aviation and environmental protection's emission
rules, the Trent 700 makes less smoke than the PW4164 and CF6-
80E1A2.

For take-off performance, Trent 800 is 200 feet better than
PW4090 and GE90-90B.

Sheard said the Trent 700 and 800 had secured a large share of
the wide-body twin-jet market.

Garuda Indonesia, Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways International,
Dragonair, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore
Aircraft Leasing Enterprise, GulfAir, Emirates, TWA and
International Lease Finance Corporation are using Trent engines
in their aircraft. They have ordered US$5 billion worth of
engines for 200 airplanes. A Trent 700 engine costs about $11
million.

Many of the customers are from the fast-growing Asia-Pacific
market, where Trent has had remarkable success supplying engines
for almost half of the Boeing 777/Airbus 330 aircraft ordered
there. It has a 35 percent of the same market worldwide.

Dr. Robin Singleton, the head of Rolls-Royce International's
Jakarta office, told The Jakarta Post that Rolls-Royce was
promoting Trent 800 engines to Garuda Indonesia.

"We are currently briefing Garuda about the suitability of the
Trent 800 for the Boeing 777s which Garuda has ordered," he said.

Garuda has ordered six long-range 777-200s as part of a US$1.6
billion order for 23 Boeing jets to be delivered between 1997 and
2002.

Rolls-Royce, Pratt and Whitney and General Electric produce
engines for the B777s. Garuda has not yet decided which company's
engines it will use for the B777s.

Three-shafts

The Trent has built on the proven three-shaft RB211 series,
produced by a BMW-Rolls-Royce joint venture. It has retained key
reliability features such as hollow titanium wide-chord fan
blades -- the accepted industry leader at coping with foreign
object ingestion -- and has added latest technology such as a 3-D
aerodynamic design, new materials and coatings and advanced
cooling.

Dr. G. A. Fitzpatrick, Rolls-Royce's Aerospace Group project
manager, said the three-shaft design lets its low, intermediate
and high pressure systems run at their optimum aerodynamic
speeds, giving the engine flexibility and economy and making it
shorter, more robust and lighter than other engines.

"As for an example, a pair of Trents on the Boeing 777 is up
to three tons lighter than competing engines," he said.

The hollow titanium wide-chord fan blades, produced with
state-of-the-art technology, are the pride of Rolls-Royce. The
fan provides about 75 percent of engine take-off thrust and must
resist the fatigue stresses of flying.

The company has developed unique manufacturing technologies
for hollow titanium fabrications with lightweight internal cores.
The first generation of wide chord fan blades with honeycomb
cores was in service in 1984. The second generation components
with super-plastic formed cores went into service last year.

Rolls-Royce has invested 30 million pounds (about $49.8
million) in its manufacturing plant in Barnoldswick, Colne, in
Lancashire. The plant produces 25 wide-chord fan blades a month.

New generation

Computer-based design and analysis have accelerated engine
development, and computer modeling can be used by many
departments in Rolls-Royce.

The Trent's creation has brought simultaneous engineering a
large step closer.

This will boost development of the Trent 900, an engine option
for Boeing 747-500X/600X and A3XX four-engine high-capacity
aircraft which are due to start flying early next decade.

Based on the Trent 800, the 900 is in the 75,000-80,000lb
thrust class. It will incorporate a scaled fan and modified
turbine components, giving a higher by-pass ratio and more fuel
efficiency. It is expected to meet and beat all current and
anticipated noise and emissions regulations.

Its proven pedigree will give it a head start on its
competitors for the "super jumbos" of the next millennium.

Award

The state-of-the-art Trent engine has been recognized by the
Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award Trust, an
independent body based in London. The Trent won this year's
MacRobert Award, which consists of a gold medal and a 50,000
pound ($83,298) prize. The award was presented by His Royal
Highness The Duke of Edinburgh to five engineers representing
Rolls-Royce at Buckingham Palace late last month.

The trust has provided annual awards to individuals or
engineering teams for outstanding achievements since 1969.

This is the third time that Rolls-Royce has won the MacRobert
Award, Britain's premier award for engineering innovation. The
company won the award for the Harrier jump-jet's Pegassus engine
in 1969, and for a high-energy X-ray inspection system used
during engine testing in 1985.