Rolls-Royce lands Cathay Pacific deal

Aerospace group Rolls-Royce said today it had landed deals worth $770m (£409.5m/€594.7m) with Asian airline Cathay Pacific.

Rolls said it had signed long-term maintenance contracts with Hong Kong-based Cathay for two more versions of its Derby-made Trent jet engine.

The support packages cover the Trent 800 engines on 17 Boeing 777 aircraft and Trent 500 engines on Cathay’s three ultra-long distance A340-600 jets.

They are in addition to existing service deals covering the Trent 700 engines in the airline’s current fleet of 23 A330 twinjets, plus six aircraft still to be delivered.

Rolls said in February that 14% growth in its engine servicing business contributed to a 21% rise in annual pre-tax profits to £345m (€501m).

Maintenance deals tend to be more popular with Rolls’ investors than new engine orders, because they provide guaranteed long-term revenue.

Analysts say airline companies buying more aircraft, engine orders, and further maintenance work on engines already in use, are likely to continue to boost Rolls’ profits in 2005.