Rolls-Royce says the company has now reached a position where there are zero Boeing 787 aircraft on the ground (AOG) due to Trent 1000 durability-related issues.

This means the company has met and exceeded its commitment to reduce AOGs to single digits by the end of Q2 this year.

Chris Cholerton, Rolls-Royce’s president – civil aerospace, said: “We have been intensely focused on addressing the Trent 1000 issues that have caused unacceptable disruption to our customers. We deeply appreciate the understanding and cooperation of our customers who have been impacted by this situation for a long time.”

“Reaching zero AOGs is an important milestone for us and our focus will be sustained to help our customers return aircraft to regular service as they recover from the impact of COVID-19, and to complete the fitment of upgrades throughout the fleet. This will deliver the performance that we and our customers expect.”

“I know that reaching this point has required incredible dedication and teamwork throughout our organisation, and I want to thank everyone who has played a part in turning this situation around.”

New innovation

Rolls-Royce says reducing the number of AOGs has also challenged the company to come up with innovative new services, all of which it says will now become part of normal operations.

The new services include remote training for airline engineers to perform some Trent 1000 inspections by their Rolls-Royce counterparts using Librestream digital visualisation technology. Prior to the coronavirus travel restrictions, Rolls-Royce would have sent an inspector to the airline to perform the task or the airline would have sent engineers to Derby for training.

Rolls-Royce says it is looking at training customers remotely to use Librestream to carry out other engine inspections which will give airlines greater operational flexibility.