$2 billion order for Rolls-Royce

Northwest Airlines has selected Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines for its new fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

The order, potentially worth up to $2 billion at list prices, is for installed and spare engines for 18 firm aircraft, plus up to 18 option aircraft, and includes a long-term TotalCare maintenance agreement, managed by Rolls-Royce.

Northwest will be the first North American-based airline to introduce the Boeing 787 into commercial service. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in August 2008.

Firm orders have now been placed for 70 Trent 1000-powered Boeing 787s. Previous announcements involved a 50-aircraft order from launch customer ANA (All Nippon Airways), and two Dreamliners for Air New Zealand.