£2.8bn deal for Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce opened the Paris Air Show in style today by unveiling the biggest-ever order for its civil aerospace division.

The £2.8bn (€4bn) deal will see the Bristol-based company supply and maintain Trent engines for Qatar Airways’ new fleet of 80 Airbus A350 twinjet aircraft.

Airbus received a double boost today after the Doha-based carrier confirmed the £8.1bn (€12bn) order for the A350 planes and fellow airline Emirates announced a $2.5bn (€1.9bn) order for eight new A380 aircraft.

Rolls-Royce announced the bumper contract as aerospace giants gathered at the industry’s biennial trade show in Paris today.