Rolls-Royce reports signs of recovery in long-haul jets demand

Rolls-Royce executives say they are seeing early signs of a recovery in demand for new large aircraft from airlines, which are mostly used for long-haul international routes, as hopes rise for the revival in aviation. The FTSE 100 group, which derives a large part of its income from manufacturing and servicing engines for Boeing and Airbus’s large widebody aircraft, is the latest company to flag an uptick in demand from airlines. There is “a lot more interest around potential wide-body [sales] campaigns starting again now”, said Chris Cholerton, president of Rolls-Royce’s civil aerospace division during a tour of the company’s engine manufacturing facility in Derby. He added that some of the airlines are “looking for deliveries from 2025 onwards”. The signs of demand for widebody aircraft is a key indicator for the aviation recovery as they are largely used on long-haul routes, which have trailed the revival for smaller jets following the pandemic-induced slump in air travel. The return of the wide-body market is also critical for Rolls-Royce to get back to full financial health. The company’s business model of earning revenues on engines in the air and on after-market sales was badly hit by the grounding of a large portion of the world’s fleet during the pandemic. Cholerton’s comments echo those of Airbus, which recently signalled it could start to increase production of its best-selling wide-body A350 jets earlier than thought. The European manufacturer, which is aggressively raising output of its single-aisle A320 family of jets, has so far stuck to a forecast to increase production of its A350 jet from five a month to six in early 2023, but the rapid rebound in travel has sparked more interest from airlines.<br/>