Rolls-Royce pulls out of race to power Boeing plane

Rolls-Royce no longer wishes to be a candidate to make the engine for a new midsize passenger jet proposed by US planemaker Boeing, the troubled British group said yesterday. Rolls gave the update alongside news that it had dived into a net loss last year as its Trent engines were hit by costly repairs and a decision by Boeing’s European rival Airbus to stop making the A380 jumbo.

Rolls posted a loss after tax of £2.4 billion ($3.2 billion, 2.8 billion euros) for 2018 after a net profit of nearly £3.4 billion a year earlier, as the group also decided to axe thousands of jobs as part of vast restructuring at the group. “Rolls-Royce has decided to withdraw from the current competition to power Boeing’s proposed middle of the market -- or New Midsize Airplane (NMA) -- platform,” the British group said in a statement.

“While we believe the platform complements Boeing’s existing product range, we are unable to commit to the proposed timetable to ensure we have a sufficiently mature product which supports Boeing’s ambition for the aircraft and satisfies our own internal requirements for technical maturity at entry into service,” it added.