Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, has won an order for Trent 700 engines to power 20 Air China Airbus A330 aircraft. The contract, worth $1.5bn at list prices, includes long-term TotalCareâ service support.

The aircraft, to be delivered from 2011, will take Air China’s Rolls-Royce powered A330 fleet to a total of 43.

In China, the Trent 700 has now been selected fourteen times by nine customers to power a total of 178 A330s in service or on order.

More than 1,000 Trent 700s are in service or on firm order. As the only engine specifically designed for the aircraft, the Trent 700 has won more than 70 per cent of new orders over the last three years.

He Li, Air China Senior Vice President, said: “We have been pleased with the performance and service support for our existing Trent 700s.This was a major factor in our latest engine selection.”

Phil Harris, Rolls-Royce Senior Vice President Customer Business, said: “We are delighted that Air China is again turning to Trent engine technology. It offers Air China many advantages, such as the ability to maximise capacity at hot and high altitude airports, minimise fuel costs and benefit from the Rolls-Royce TotalCareâ  comprehensive long-term support package.”

The latest Air China engines are an enhanced performance version of the Trent 700 which improves engine fuel burn  – confirming its position as the engine of choice for fuel burn, emissions, thrust and noise on the A330. As part of the contract, Trent 700 engines for Air China’s existing fleet of A330s will be retrofitted with enhanced performance kits.