Rolls-Royce has been advised by Airbus of the cancellation of an Emirates' order for 70 A350 aircraft. While disappointed with this decision, we are confident that the delivery slots which start towards the end of this decade vacated by Emirates will be taken up by other airlines. Demand for the Airbus A350 remains strong, with more than 700 aircraft and 1,400 Trent XWB engines already sold.
We retain a close working relationship with Emirates and continue to support their 38 Rolls-Royce powered wide body aircraft currently in service.
As a result of today's announcement, our order book will reduce by around 3.5% or £2.6bn. The order for 70 A350 aircraft was confirmed in 2007 as part of a larger $8.4bn announcement relating to a total of 120 Aircraft, all with TotalCare services. The options for the additional 50 aircraft, and the TotalCare contracts were not included in the amount captured in our Order Book.
