Rolls-Royce Wins Back LATAM With Trent 1000 XE

Winning a customer for six engines to power three aircraft might not make headlines, but winning back a customer who earlier selected your competitor’s product is different. Rolls-Royce hailed the return of LATAM to the family when it announced the selection of the Trent 1000 XE. The engine maker must be hoping more airlines will follow suit. Rolls-Royce said on Wednesday that LATAM had selected the updated and improved version of the Trent 1000 to power three Boeing 787-9s. LATAM has unfilled orders for 15 Dreamliners, but for 10 aircraft has opted for the General Electric GEnx turbofan. The remaining five show “not specified” in the unfilled orders section on the Boeing website. LATAM’s 2025 report says that six 787-9s will be delivered in 2028 and nine in 2029-2030. It is not clear when the three with Trent 1000 XE engines will join the fleet. Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgic welcomed back LATAM. In a media statement, he said: “We’re proud that LATAM Airlines has returned to Rolls-Royce as its Boeing 787 engine partner. This order demonstrates growing market confidence in the Trent 1000?XE and reflects the benefits that our ongoing transformation is delivering. Our significant investments to improve Time on Wing and expand our MRO network mean we are giving customers like LATAM Airlines a truly competitive engine choice that can help them achieve their growth ambitions.” LATAM Group CEO Roberto Alvo said: “This agreement reflects the long-standing relationship we have built with Rolls-Royce over time, alongside the evolution of the Trent 1000 engine since 2012. The incorporation of the Trent 1000 XE on our Boeing 787 aircraft supports our efforts to enhance operational efficiency, while providing optionality to capture growth opportunities as we continue developing our long-haul network.” Market share Over the past four years, Rolls-Royce has lost significant market share to GE Aerospace, with the GEnx growing its share to 60-65 percent on the Boeing 787 and achieving a win-rate of 75 percent of new orders. In its annual report, Rolls-Royce states its market share of the 1000 is 21 percent, with 778 engines in service and 32 on order. Deliveries peaked in 2019 at 126 engines but have come down to 40 last year. At GE, the situation is different. This year, United Airlines ordered 300 GEnx for 150 aircraft and Delta Air Lines bought engines for 30 787-10s. Saudia selected the GEnx for 39 787-9s and -10s in November 2025, Ethiopian Airlines for 11 Dreamliners in May 2025, plus Qatar Airways buying 260 engines that same month. Korean Air also bought GEnx for 30 787-10s in March 2025. So did Royal Jordanian in November 2024 for 18 engines, with Thai Airways selecting the GEnx in February 2024 for 45 787s. Start-up Riyadh Air bought 90 engines for 39 787s in June 2023, Air India bought 40 engines in February 2023. In December 2023, LATAM Group placed its landmark order for GEnx engines, having been a Rolls-Royce customer until then. The airline became the first GEnx operator in Latin America and has since then taken delivery of two 787-9s with the US engine. LATAM hasn’t been the only defector: ANA All Nippon Airways selected the GENX in February 2020 for 15 787s, while Air New Zealand sent similar shock waves across the industry when it swapped supplier for its freshly-ordered 787-10s in May 2019. British Airways committed to the GEnx in July 2024 for six 787-10s, having operated Rolls-Royce engines across its fleet for decades. Poor durability The reason for the dissatisfaction with Rolls-Royce has been the poor durability of the Trent 1000’s hot-section components. General Electric hasn’t been immune to these issues either, requiring updates for blades and nozzles. But the Trent has seen numerous problems since 2014 that have resulted in limited time-on-wing and extended periods of shop visits for maintenance and repairs. To this day, operators like ANZ and Ethiopian have grounded 787s that impact their operations. Last week, the author was at the Rolls-Royce facility in Dahlewitz (Germany) to witness how an ANZ Trent 1000 was updated to XE specifications. Rolls’ road to recovery has brought results, but has been long and costly. New high-pressure turbine (HPT) blades were designed to double their life, and so were compressors, while seven other upgrades and durability improvements were rolled out since 2018 on the standard 1000 and TEN versions. The engine maker has drawn on the experience gained since 2022 with updates for the Trent 7000, which is the exclusive power plant on the Airbus A330neo. Last year, Rolls-Royce rebranded the updated Trent 1000 into the 1000 XE, incorporating the durability enhancement package (DEH) with new HPT blades that have 40 percent better cooling characteristics and different air flows to significantly extend life in hot and dusty environments. The package also includes optimised HP nozzle guide vanes cooling and coating, a new combustor rear inner case, and new software. This Phase 1 was certified in June 2025, but was already installed in new engines since January that year. [caption id="attachment_191533" align="aligncenter" width="722"] Rolls-Royce Trent 1000[/caption] Phase 2 of the DEH package sees further improvements, like lighter HPT shrouds, HP nozzle guide vanes film cooling changes and coating optimisation, and a combustor to turbine interface that mirrors that of the XWB-84 on the Airbus A350-900. This phase was certified earlier this year and introduced on the in-service fleet this month. More updates will be rolled out through the end of 2027, giving the Trent 1000 XE a three times improvement of time-on-wing compared to the previous versions, with an 80 percent improvement targeted by 2027. Trading update In today’s trading update, Erginbilgic highlighted the steps made. “Our time on wing programme is progressing to plan. Having certified the second phase of HPT blade improvements for the Trent 1000 and Trent 7000 at the end of last year, we have begun installing the new blade in OE deliveries and during shop visits. We have now upgraded more than a third of the Trent 1000 TEN operational fleet with improved HPT blades, bringing them to the new enhanced Trent 1000 XE standard of durability.” The question is now: will LATAM be satisfied with the XE? And will Rolls-Royce succeed in winning over more customers to build back its backlog on the Boeing 787? Besides the three aircraft for LATAM, the trading update mentioned XE orders for five more 787s this month, without disclosing details. Rolls is protected by the single-supplier status on the A350 and A330neo, which accounts for 1.785 Trent XWB and 7000 engines in the backlog. It doesn’t have this luxury with the 787, so it must fight hard to regain the confidence of new or previous airline customers.

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