By Robert Wall
LONDON--Emirates Airline is poised to pick Rolls-Royce Holdings
PLC to power the airline's latest batch of Airbus Group NV A380
superjumbos, according to people familiar with the matter.
Emirates in November 2013 said it would buy 50 more A380
double-deckers, though it held off on making an engine decision.
The Dubai-based airline, the world's largest by international
traffic, has now opted for Rolls-Royce, said two of the people.
The deal for Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines could have a
list-price value of more than $2.5 billion, though large buyers
typically get discounts. The airline could make its engine decision
public as early as this week, one of the people said.
Emirates, the biggest operator of A380s, selected the GE, Pratt
joint venture to power its first 90 A380 jets. The carrier had
taken delivery of 59 of the jets at the end of March, according to
Airbus data.
Airlines typically use one engine type per plane, though the
size of the Emirates A380 fleet would allow it to use two versions
economically, one of the people said.
Emirates and Rolls-Royce both declined to comment.
Rolls-Royce had secure more airline commitments for its A380
engine, though its rival sold more engines largely by winning
Emirates as the customer, which is by far the biggest buyer of the
plane.
The contract would make an important breakthrough for
Rolls-Royce at Emirates, one of the premier buyers of long-haul
planes. The London-based engine maker had no contracts with
Emirates after the carrier last year cancelled a deal for Airbus
A350 jets.
Emirates has been pushing to improve the Airbus A380 with new
engines. Rolls-Royce officials have indicated they would consider
building a new engine for the upgraded jet, referred to as the
A380neo. Emirates President Tim Clark said he expected an A380neo
with new Rolls-Royce engines to deliver double-digit-percentage
efficiency gains.
Airbus said it is studying whether to proceed with such a
program. The plane maker is trying to assess whether there is
demand for such a plane beyond Emirates. Airbus said it would
continue to improve the A380 even if that doesn't involve putting
new engines on the plane.
Emirates said it could buy as many as 200 of the upgraded
A380neo jets if Airbus were to build the model. The first of the
regular A380 jets with Rolls-Royce engines is expected to be handed
over late next year.
Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com
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