Emirates Chides Airbus, Rolls-Royce Over A380 Powerplant

Emirates CEO Tim Clark: “We want the engines as promised in the contract.”

Eight days after declaring itself the “only airline in the world to operate a fleet of all Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft,” Emirates is speaking out against French aircraft manufacturer Airbus and engine builder Rolls Royce over new engines set to power new deliveries of the A380 superjumbo jet. Bloomberg reports that Emirates chief executive Tim Clark made the degrading comments during a media briefing in Frankfurt.

According to Clark, the engine proposed for 50 deliveries of the airframe, the Trent 900, have come back with “technical issues.” While the executive did not elaborate on the exact issues, it is believed that the engine manufacturer has not met “quality improvements” that were outlined in an agreement with the engine manufacturer.

“We have a new engine coming on and there are some issues with that at the moment,” Clark told the media, as quoted by Bloomberg. “We want the engines as promised in the contract.”

The public scrutiny comes just over a week after Emirates declared themselves the “first and only” international airline with a fleet consisting of only Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft. In a press release, the airline announced the retirement of their final A330 and A340 aircraft from service, while planning the phase out of 25 more aircraft over the next two years to ensure a modern fleet.

“This has resulted in Emirates operating one of the youngest fleets in the industry with an average age of 5.2 years,” the airline announced in their press release. “Emirates’ fleet of all Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft will also have a smaller environmental impact as both aircraft types have better fuel efficiency and emissions performance than the retired aircraft.”

In the meantime, both sides are working together to find a solution to the engine issue. In an e-mail to Bloomberg, Rolls-Royce confirmed they have been in touch with both Airbus and Emirates to meet the first delivery deadline, while Emirates is still hopeful to receive their next A380 by Dec. 2. According to the latest data from Airbus, the Middle East carrier still has 57 outstanding orders for the A380 yet to be delivered.

[Photo: Emirates]