More than 4,000 jobs at Rolls-Royce to go amidst further engine problems

It’s believed between 4,000 and 5,000 job losses will be announced by CEO Warren East when he updates City analysts on the company’s fortunes this Friday. The company’s Derby manufacturing base is expected to bear the brunt of the decision, with back-office staff and management targeted rather than frontline engineers.

While Rolls-Royce has declined to confirm or deny the reports of job cuts, it revealed in a statement on Monday that it has identified additional issues with its Trent 1000 engine. Previous problems with the intermediate pressure compressor (IPC) of a batch of Trent 1000s known as ‘Package C’ have caused problems for airlines operating Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. Now, Rolls has discovered a similar durability problem may exist across 166 ‘Package B’ engines. This brings the total number of engines affected to 549. Inspections and associated costs could cost the company around £1bn.

According to Rolls, it has already successfully run a redesigned Package C IPC in a development engine, and a design solution for Package B is underway. Potential issues with the Trent 1000 TEN engine are also being explored, although no issues with IPC durability have been found so far, the company said.