A350 XWB’s Trent XWB engine achieves EASA type certification.

Airbus A350 Cathay Pacific (Photo credit: Magic Aviation)

The Airbus A350 XWB programme has achieved yet another important milestone with the European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) award of the Engine Type Certification of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB turbofan. EASA presented the certificate to Rolls-Royce at EASA’s headquarters in Cologne, Germany.

This certification covers Trent XWB engines which will power the A350-800 and A350-900 variants. A higher thrust version of the Trent XWB is currently under development for the A350-1000.

Eric Schulz, President – Civil Large Engines, Rolls-Royce, said: “We are very proud to have achieved this significant milestone on the road to the A350 XWB’s entry into service. I would like to thank Airbus for their support and all of our partners and employees who contributed to the design and certification of the engine. Test results show we have produced the world’s most efficient large civil aero engine and we now look forward to the first flight later this year.”

Didier Evrard, Airbus’ Executive Vice President – Head of A350 XWB Programme said: “We congratulate our colleagues at Rolls-Royce on achieving this important milestone for the A350 XWB programme with the EASA certification of the Trent XWB engine.” He adds: “These new engines together with the aircraft’s advanced aerodynamics and airframe technologies will bring our airline customers a 25 percent step-improvement in fuel efficiency.”

Certification confirms the engine has fulfilled EASA’s airworthiness requirements for flight and is the last major engine milestone prior to the first flight of A350-900 ‘MSN001’ later this year. The engines which will power that aircraft are now being prepared prior to installation of the fully integrated powerplant on the aircraft’s pylon.

The Trent XWB has already powered a series of test flights on Airbus’ A380 Flying Test Bed (FTB) aircraft since February 2012. These flight-test results indicate that the engine will meet Airbus’ extremely high efficiency and performance goals for the A350 XWB programme.

The A350 XWB is the all-new mid-size long range product line comprising three versions and seating between 270 and 350 passengers in typical three-class layouts. The new family will bring a step change in efficiency compared with existing aircraft in this size category, using 25 per cent less fuel and providing an equivalent reduction in CO2 emissions. Scheduled for entry-into-service in 2014, the A350 XWB has already won 617 firm orders from 35 customers worldwide.