Faulty Rolls-Royce engine blades are deteriorating faster than expected, prompting additional groundings of Boeing Co.’s 787 jetliners for emergency repairs.
Because faulty Dreamliners affected by the latest findings already faced shop visits for remedial work, so that Rolls-Royce anticipated charge of 1.3 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) for emergency maintenance likely won’t be affected.
Rolls-Royce discovered the issue with the Dreamliner’s intermediate pressure turbine following incidents at Air New Zealand in December. Air-safety regulators will publish a formal requirement for repairs in coming weeks.
The U.K. manufacturer has been battling a series of design faults affecting various parts of the Trent 1000 turbine for two years, with carriers including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. and Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA forced to lease in jets this summer as 787 engines came off-wing for repairs.
Newsmax.com / Bloomberg Aviation News 2018.