Rolls-Royce jet-engine woes pressure plane makers

Rolls-Royce Friday warned its aircraft-engine production would fall short this year, adding to the pressure plane makers face in delivering new jets to airlines on time. Rolls-Royce said it would ship 500 rather than 550 airliner engines. The manufacturer blamed the setback on production problems with a new engine, the Trent 7000, used to power Airbus A330neo wide-bodies. Boeing and Airbus have struggled this year to get planes into customer hands because of production problems. Boeing has had 737 single-aisle planes lined up on the ramp at its Seattle production site awaiting engines. Delays to fuselages also hit production. For Airbus, the Rolls-Royce setback comes at a particularly difficult time. The company is already late with deliveries of its A320neo single-aisle planes. <br/>