Rolls-Royce celebrates as first Airbus A330neo delivered to TAP Air Portugal

Rolls-Royce today joined TAP Air Portugal and Airbus to celebrate delivery of the first A330neo aircraft to enter service, which is powered by Trent 7000 engines.

Antonoaldo Neves, CEO, TAP Air Portugal, Guilaume Faury, Airbus, President – Commercial Aircraft and Chris Cholerton, Rolls-Royce, President – Civil Aerospace, attended a formal handover ceremony at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France.

The exclusive engine for the A330neo, the Trent 7000 is the seventh in a Trent family that has now accumulated more than 125 million engine flying hours.

The Trent 7000 also brings together more than 50 million flying hours of experience from the Trent 700, which powers the original version of the A330.

The 68-72,000lb thrust Trent 7000 delivers a step change in performance and economics compared to the Trent 700. Benefitting from a bypass ratio double that of its predecessor, the Trent 7000 will improve specific fuel consumption by 10%, and will significantly reduce noise.

Mr Neves said: "This is an important moment for our airline and we look forward to entering a new era in customer service and performance with the A330neo, powered by Trent 7000 engines."

Mr Faury said: "Handing over the first ever A330neo to a long-standing Airbus customer, TAP Air Portugal, is a very important milestone for Airbus. Through continuous innovations, the A330neo, our newest widebody aircraft, will offer maximum value and efficiency to our customers and superior comfort to their passengers. This occasion marks another step forward to meeting our industry's goal for sustainable aviation."

Mr Cholerton said: "We are proud to power the delivery of the A330neo and warmly congratulate both TAP Air Portugal and Airbus on this delivery milestone. We are now focused on supporting TAP Air Portugal and ensuring a smooth entry into service that demonstrates all the outstanding attributes of this aircraft."

Today marks another in a recent sequence of new aircraft deliveries celebrated by Rolls-Royce, the others being for the Airbus A350-1000 powered by the Trent XWB-97, and the Boeing 787-10 powered by the Trent 1000 TEN.