Qatar Airways Selects Rolls-Royce TotalCare for A340 Trent-Powered Fleet

Released on Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Qatar Airways has signed a long-term TotalCare® agreement to support its fleet of four Rolls-Royce Trent 500-powered Airbus A340-600s and one VIP-configured Airbus A340-500.

Mr Akbar Al-Baker, Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Airways, said: "The Trent 500 has proven itself since entering service and the level of support offered by Rolls-Royce through its TotalCare package will only further enhance our operations."

Phil Harris, Senior Vice President � Airlines, Rolls-Royce, said: "We are delighted to extend our successful partnership with Qatar Airways and, with the signing of this TotalCare agreement, be in a position to provide five-star service support to one of the world's Five Star airlines."

Qatar Airways announced an order for 80 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, all powered by the Trent XWB, in June 2007. The airline will take 20 A350-800s, 40 A350-900s and 20 of the largest family variant, the A350-1000. A single version of the Trent XWB, currently the only engine available for the A350XWB, will be capable of powering all aircraft in the series.

The airline also operates a fleet of V2500-powered Airbus A320 family aircraft. The V2500 is produced by the International Aero Engines consortium, of which Rolls-Royce is a major shareholder.

Rolls-Royce is also working with Qatar Airways, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Fuel Company, Airbus, Shell International Petroleum Company limited and the Qatar Science and Technology Park to research the benefits of using Gas to Liquid (GTL) synthetic jet fuels.

Qatar Airways aims to be the first commercial airline in the world to operate flights using gas-to-liquids kerosene fuel � seen by Qatar Airways as the technology of the future, that will help to reduce significantly carbon emissions and the impact of climate change.