Rolls-Royce signs £1.4bn contract

Rolls-Royce signed a long-term services contract worth $2.2bn (£1.4bn) with Dubai's national airline, Emirates, yesterday.

The agreement under its TotalCare scheme will see Rolls-Royce technicians maintain the Trent engines of 70 Airbus aircraft that Emirates will take delivery of in the next few years.

It follows a $1.2bn contract in November to service engines on 48 Emirates aeroplanes which are already being flown or are on order. The deal brings to 128 the number of Emirates jets under Rolls's TotalCare contract.

The aero-engine maker faced a crisis in November when one of its Trent 900 engines exploded in mid-air, forcing a Qantas superjumbo flying between Singapore and Sydney into an emergency landing.

Rolls-Royce revealed earlier this month that the incident cost it £56m, contributing to a 20 per cent fall in underlying profits at its civil aerospace arm last year.