Emirates boss demands Rolls-Royce focus on important matters

The Emirates boss has called on Rolls-Royce to focus on the “important things” with the performance of its engines. The call came a day after the British company revealed plans to quadruple its profits.

Shares in the British engine maker rose after CEO Tufan Erginbilgic recently unveiled a strategy to revive the engine maker. This is aimed at a significant increase in profit margins and “price based on value”, which suggests higher maintenance costs.

However, Emirates President Tim Clark, who criticized Rolls-Royce at the Dubai air show this month over the price of the engine and the performance of its biggest engine, was not happy with the plans, which rely heavily on the engine’s high profitability.

“If the engine (…) does not work as it should, the costs will increase. But the ability to provide value to the customer will decrease because the customer will not accept not working,” he said in an interview. with Reuters.

“This is a very clear kindergarten understanding of cause and effect. Get your product right, design it to meet the needs of the customer and give it a high level of reliability. And yes, surprisingly, you can be more for it Make money. “

Clark has ruled out the purchase of the Airbus A350-1000

At this month’s air show, Clark ruled out a one-off purchase of the Airbus A350-1000, the larger of the two models. He justified the decision with a dispute with engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce over the engine’s poor service life and high maintenance costs.

“I said, ‘Guys, you’ve got to get back to the basics. Make engines that meet the needs of the customers,'” Clark told the engine maker during a conversation that ultimately led to an additional order for the smaller A350-900.

“We ended up with -1000. You don’t know how much work I put into those planes,” Clark said, adding that the engine failure paved the way for plans to use the Boeing 777-8 and 777.-8 Use as a passenger and cargo plane.

Rolls-Royce did not comment further on the investor presentation. Airbus declined to comment.

Rolls-Royce admits mistakes

Rolls-Royce admitted that the down time of the XWB-97 engine was higher than expected. But he rejected Clark’s suggestion that the level of performance amounted to “defects.”

Clark said the idea of ​​ordering the A350-1000 was “not off the table”, but added that it would depend on progress over time. He noted that Rolls-Royce plans to introduce several modifications from its Ultrafan engine research in late 2025 or 2026.

“I would say, fix your engines. (…) I promise you: If you build a good engine, we will seriously talk to you about some kind of maintenance cost that will give you the kind of profit you are looking for. , without being too greedy.”

Erginbilgic recently explained that the durability issue is specific to the XWB-97 engine used on the A350-1000 and only occurs in severe weather conditions. Rolls-Royce is working with Airbus to improve the engine to a higher standard.