After years of focusing on twin-aisle aircraft, Rolls-Royce is now developing a version of its UltraFan engine for the single-aisle market.
Rolls-Royce has been slower in recovering from the effects of the pandemic than others in the aviation industry. The company’s focus on widebody aircraft, along with its preference for “power by the hour” engine contracts, meant that it had to wait until long-haul travel recovered.
That finally happened in 2023. However, the engine manufacturer remained focused on recovery while addressing some longevity issues with its existing engine lineup. But well before this, Rolls-Royce had said that it could scale its UltraFan, its next engine family, to work on single-aisle aircraft.
During last year’s Paris Air Show, Tufan Erginbilgic, CEO of Rolls-Royce, played down discussions about a narrowbody version of the UltraFan. Erginbilgic didn’t rule out such a development but maintained that the company’s focus remained on its current markets.
Rolls-Royce and the Competitive Single-Aisle Engine Market
A year later, the company has apparently changed its strategy. Rolls-Royce is now working on an UltraFan demonstrator that’s appropriate for single-aisle aircraft. Erginbilgic added that Rolls-Royce is talking with aircraft manufacturers about such an engine.
It is certainly true that there is a lot of interest in new engines for narrow-body airliners. Pratt & Whitney is facing some headaches with its geared turbofan PW1000G engine family but believes the design still has plenty of development potential.
CFM, a 50-50% partnership between GE and Safran, is working on the RISE open fan concept. This is on top of CFM’s LEAP engine family. Rolls-Royce has no current offering for single-aisle aircraft, but this wasn’t always the case.
One of the engine options for Boeing’s single-aisle 757 was the Rolls-Royce RB211. More recently, the RB211 formed the basis for RR’s current Trent widebody engines. Separately, Rolls-Royce was one of the companies in the IAE partnership, which made the V2500 engine for the Airbus A320 and other aircraft.
Resizing the UltraFan
The Rolls-Royce UltraFan is another evolution of the Trent, with the addition of a geared fan and other materials improvements. But it is huge. Its fan diameter is larger even than that of the GE9X engine of the soon-to-be-certified Boeing 777-9.
It is unclear if Rolls-Royce will size its smaller UltraFan for a typical single-aisle aircraft or for a 757-sized jet. Currently, there is a notable lack of a modern “mid-size” engine, like the RB211 or the PW2000 that the 757 used.
Rolls-Royce needs to choose carefully. Boeing’s previous plans for a New Midsize Airplane (NMA) tilted toward a narrow widebody configuration, to replace both the 737 and 757. Airbus and Embraer also have notional plans for new airliners. But can Rolls-Royce “unseat” CFM and Pratt & Whitney in this market?
