The jet engine that exploded in mid-air on a Qantas long-haul flight has cost Rolls-Royce £56million. RR confirmed yesterday that the blow-out in one of its Trent 900 engines on an Airbus A380 flying from London to Sydney in November 2010 had caused a 20% fall in profits in its civil aviation arm. It said the bulk of the associated costs had now been taken, although it said further 'modest' costs may be seen this year. The woes did not hold back profits growth in the wider business, with underlying pre-tax profits up 4% to £955 million in 2010. RR - whose chief executive Sir John Rose is retiring next month after 15 years - said the group and wider industry had' learned lessons' following the Qantas engine incident. It blamed an 'uncontained disc release' for the incident, a fault which it said happens around once a year on the world's large civil aircraft fleet. 'However this was the first time an event of this nature had occurred on a large civil Rolls-Royce engine since 1994,' it added.
RR TAKES A £56M HIT
