The statements “In the end, we cannot have a batch of aircraft letting us down all the time, it’ll destroy us,” “We want effective, good planes that might not be as advanced, but in the end what we want is reliability,” might not be music for European Airbus or British Rolls-Royce, but that's the reality at the moment !
Airbus had a tough time dealing with the alleged Body Paint issue of A350 aircraft , and they had to toil hard with another Middle eastern carrrier Qatar Airways, leading to legal battles between the leading companies in the industry.
Now, Emirates Airline, under the President Tim Clark, has made it clear that it will not be making further purchases of Airbus’ flagship A350-1000 planes, until the Rolls-Royce Trent engine performance issues have been addressed to the benefit of the operator.
This announcement is making rounds, followed by critical remarks of the Emirates's chief during the Dubai Air Show 2023, that has literally killed all the hopes of Airbus to bag a major order at the event.
Emirates wouldn’t be willing to compromise by getting a lower price, because buying an aircraft that doesn’t perform as desired makes no sense, Clark said. Reliability is particularly important for carriers in the Middle East, who run their aircraft in hot and demanding cycles, putting more strain on their planes.
Clark said the engine on the aircraft, built exclusively by Rolls Royce Holdings Plc, doesn’t meet the requirements in terms of time on the wing until the next maintenance cycle. Emirates would be in the market for 35 to 50 of the A350, Clark said, in what would add to an existing order book of 50 units of the smaller -900 widebody variant.
“If they can do that at a maintenance cost per hour that’s alright for us,” then Emirates would order the aircraft, Clark said in a meeting with journalists at the Dubai Air Show. “But it’s not doing that at the moment.”
Airbus wished to replicate the first day success of Boeing, as the US company bagged a huge order valued at $52 billion with Emirates on Monday.
Clark, calling the Rolls-Royce engine “defective,” said the powerplant only does about a quarter of the maintenance cycle that he’d typically need to see, equal to about 2,000 to 2,500 hours. Worth mentioning , Airbus doesn’t have any other options on the aircraft as Rolls-Royce is the only engine supplier for the A350XWB model.
However, Airbus Sales Chief Christian Scherer, speaking at a press conference in Dubai defended the plane , said the engine on the A350 is “perfectly fine” and that customers are flocking to the model. The A350-1000, in particularly, has had a very strong year, picking up an unprecedented amount of orders.
Among the defects, in August 2020, Rolls-Royce had discovered cracks in the intermediate pressure (IP) compressor blades of higher-time Trent XWB-84 engines , those power the Airbus A350-900 variant , during scheduled overhaul but said early detection is the key for the speedy development of a fix.
For the record in this context , In 2019, Emirates had placed a firm order for 50 Airbus A350-900s powered by Trent XWB-84 engines, expected to be delivered as of 2024.
For the remarks from Tim Clark at the airshow now, Rolls-Royce official said in a statement that ,
“Emirates is a valued customer and we look forward to supporting their future fleet growth plans.”
Rolls-Royce also said , it was taking steps to improve the durability of its Trent XWB-97 jet engines but denied a suggestion from one of the industry's most influential leaders that the Airbus A350-1000 engine was defective.
Chief Customer Officer Ewen McDonald acknowledged that the company's largest engine faced challenges in climates like Dubai, where Emirates has held off ordering the A350-1000.
"The engine works really well in what we call benign operations ... But in sandy, hot conditions it is challenged, as all modern engines are, because the temperatures are very high. We see it across the industry," he said in an interview.
In aviation industry, these kind of tactics and banter are seen at a healthy space unlike long Qatar Airways-Airbus legal battle. Carriers and manufacturers come to the terms shortly after public disagreements.
Can be seen as an way to negotiations, public complains and dissatisfaction notes are seen as ladders to the discounted aircraft prices, which both Boeing and Airbus are very much conversant with.
Harsh criticism from Middle Eastern buyers could become a norm soon, as they are among the biggest buyers of widebody jets, compared to any other part of the world, that's again due to the leverage in oil prices. No wonder, only Emirates can fly the four engined A380 super jumbos, known for their poor fuel efficiency.
This time, Clark suggested that he’s looking for performance guarantees on the engine before he’s willing to commit.
“In the end, we cannot have a batch of aircraft letting us down all the time, it’ll destroy us,” Clark said. “We want effective, good planes that might not be as advanced, but in the end what we want is reliability.”
The statements by chief of Emirates casts a shadow on both Airbus and Rolls-Royce. The airlines’ refusal to compromise on engine performance despite offered discounts indicates the operational seriousness in this subject.
It also raises fundamental questions about the reliability of the A350-1000 aircraft’s engine, which could potentially affect future sales and the reputation of both companies.
