Rolls-Royce Likes Embraer's Success With Legacy and its AE3007 Engines

Heavy demand for Embraer's new Legacy business jet version of the ERJ-135 regional airliner is nothing but good news for Rolls-Royce, which powers the Embraer line of regional jets and their derivatives.

"Several capacity line increases have been made to ramp up AE3007 engine production at the Indianapolis plant to meet the enormous demand from Embraer for its regional jet programs," said David Waggoner, director of customer business, corporate aircraft and regional airlines, at Rolls-Royce Corporation North America.

Waggoner is working closely with Embraer EVP corporate aircraft Sam Hill on Legacy marketing exercises. Two models will be offered: an 8 to 10-seat executive version and a 20-seat corporate shuttle.

"We are also working closely with Swift Aviation of Phoenix, AZ, the Legacy launch customer, which ordered 25 with 25 options," he told Show News. The Swift Aviation schedule calls for the first Legacy to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2001, with the rest of the order following at one per month. "We are looking for a lot of engine sales with the 3000+ nmi-range Legacy," Waggoner commented.

The AE3007C-powered Citation X is also enjoying a sales boom, fueling higher than expected demand for these engines. "Citation X sales are still accelerating when we expected them to be plateau-ing. This is an unexpected bonus, but it is creating an even greater demand for these engines. At the moment, and for the foreseeable future, both Embraer and Cessna would take as many engines as we could make," said Waggoner.

More than 1,000 AE3007s have been produced to date. Flight time for the AE3007A on Embraer ERJs has recently passed 1.5 million hours, while the AE3000C version on the Citation X has logged about 250,000 flight hours.

Rolls-Royce is in 'Customer Focus' mode, according to Waggoner, "The objective is to have a single point of contact for corporate customers in the near future. This is something that the customer wants, and we realize that it is something we are expected to deliver. The structure is still being worked out with headquarters in Derby, England, as is the geographic contact point in the United States, which hopefully we can solve quickly and to everyone's liking."

Waggoner continued, "Rolls Royce probably hasn't been as available to its customers in the past as it could have been. We have come to realize that many other companies have not looked as closely at the corporate customer either. This is an area that we intend to improve in the very near future."

Focus at NBAA is on Rolls-Royce's plans to upgrade the corporate care 'power by the hour' extended warranty engine program which was first registered 40 years ago for engines on the de Havilland (Hawker) 125. A corporate care extended warranty package is already in place for the AE3007. The company is "nearing a mature offer" for individual operators of its BR710 engines, which power the Global Express and Gulfstream V. Executive Jets International has already signed for BR710 engine corporate care. Rolls-Royce is also building up options for a total care package for Tay and Spey engines for second-and third-tier brokers. The Tay powers the Gulfstream IV and IV-SP, while the Spey is aboard the GII and GIII.

Engines featured at the Rolls-Royce booth at NBAA include an AE3007, Tay, BR710, R-R/Allison Model 250 and a Honeywell/R-R LHTEC CTS800-4P twin-turbine powerplant that will power the Ayres Loadmaster. The first CTS800-4P flight test engine was delivered in late June to the Triumph Group in Tempe, AZ, which will integrate the powerplant into a firewall-forward package for the aircraft twin-engine, single-prop Loadmaster.

By Mike Vines