Thai takes on Trents

Thai Airways International has selected Rolls-Royce’s Trent 700 to power a new fleet of eight Airbus A330-300s, in a deal worth around £156m at engine list prices. The aircraft are due to be delivered from 2009 onwards.

The engines will be supported through a 10 year TotalCare long term services agreement, based on an agreed fee per engine flying hour.

Thai was the launch customer for the Trent 800 on the -200 and -300 versions of the Boeing 777. It has 20 aircraft in its fleet, which includes the Trent-powered -200ER version. The airline also operates the Trent 500 on 10 Airbus A340-500 and -600s.

Khun Tummasak, executive vice president technical at Thai, said: ‘We have developed a strong relationship with Rolls-Royce since we started operating the Trent 800 in 1996. During that time, Rolls-Royce has demonstrated an excellent understanding of our business requirements which has helped them provide the highest levels of support for our operation. This was one of the key factors in our decision, along with our evaluation of long term operating costs.’