Gulf Air, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s national carrier, has awarded Rolls-Royce a $900m contract for Trent 1000 engines to power 10 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. The contract also includes long-term TotalCare® service support.

In addition, Gulf Air also has the option to purchase the same engine to power six further Boeing 787-9s.

The aircraft all form part of Gulf Air’s recently announced widebody aircraft orders, geared towards facilitating long term expansion capabilities for the airline’s future network requirement.

Mr. Maher Salman Al Musallam, Gulf Air, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Gulf Air’s current widebody fleet is also powered by Trent 700 engines and, with this latest development, we look forward to continuing our longstanding relationship with Rolls-Royce as we take an important step forward in developing our future fleet. We have experience of the Trent engine and its durability and resilience in a variety of operating conditions and we are confident the Trent 1000 will deliver the same outstanding performance.”

Eric Schulz, Rolls-Royce, President – Civil Aerospace, said: “We are proud to be selected by a valued customer such as Gulf Air and this marks a significant success for the Trent 1000. It has developed a real momentum in the marketplace, winning more than 60 per cent of engine competitions in the last six years.”

The signing was witnessed by Bahrain’s Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications H.E. Engineer Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed, H.E. Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to United Kingdom and British Ambassador to Bahrain, Simon Martin.

Rolls-Royce powered the very first Boeing 787 test flight in December 2009, the first 787-8 to enter service in October 2011, and the first 787-9 to enter service, in 2014.