More engine problems for Rolls Royce
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
JEREMY HOBSON: Singapore Airlines says its replacing the expensive Rolls Royce engines on three of its A380 super jumbo jets. This is the latest twist in a story that started last week when a similar engine on a Qantas jet blew out in midair and forced an emergency landing.
Marketplace’s Stephen Beard is covering this story for us this morning and he joins us now live from London. Good morning, Stephen.
STEPHEN BEARD: Hello Jeremy.
HOBSON: Will more and more airlines start grounding their jets and replacing these engines?
BEARD: Well, there must be a possibility of that, yes. Singapore say it’s changing the engines, as a precaution on the advice of the engine maker Rolls Royce. Singapore found minor oil leaks in the engine. This follows a similar discover by Quantas after it grounded all of its A380s following last week’s blowout.
HOBSON: And Stephen, it seems like as this story continues to unfold, this is turning into a much bigger problem for Rolls Royce than it is for Airbus which makes the plane.
BEARD: Yes, it is a big problem for Rolls Royce. It comes at a difficult time for the engine makers, who have been getting quite a bit of heat from Boeing over the failure of the Rolls Royce engine in tests for the Boeing Dreamliner. Rolls Royce is being partly blamed by Boeing for the delay in the Dreamliner. There was a fire during a test flight of a Dreamliner yesterday, which forced an emergency landing in Texas. Now it’s not yet known whether the Rolls Royce engine was at fault there, but is does put the company under further pressure. None of this, however Jeremy, seems to have deterred the Chinese. They’ve just signed a deal to buy $1.5 billion worth of engines from Rolls Royce. So it’s not all doom and gloom for the company.
HOBSON: Wow, alright. Marketplace’s Stephen Beard in London, thank you.
BEARD: OK Jeremy.
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