Rolls-Royce today announced the latest version of its market-leading Trent 700, the Trent 700 Regional, will power the recently announced Airbus A330 Regional aircraft.

The engine was confirmed at the Rolls-Royce customer symposium in China, which along with South East Asia, will be a key market for the aircraft.

The Trent 700, the only engine specifically designed for the A330, delivers the best fuel burn, emissions and noise performance, resulting in market leadership on the aircraft with 70 per cent of new orders over the last four years.

It currently powers 70 per cent of A330 regional operations and every A330 operator in mainland China has selected the engine.

The superior attributes of the Trent 700 Regional, optimised specifically for the A330 Regional, save operators $1m per aircraft per year compared to competitor engines.

The engine features reduced thrust tailored to aircraft regional operations, providing lower maintenance costs and longer time on wing. By providing the right amount of thrust at the right time, engine part life is extended and maintenance costs significantly reduced.

In “hot, high and severe” environments the Trent 700 has already consistently proven itself to have the best time on wing performance, up to double that of its nearest competitor. This advantage was a key element in the recent order from Qatar Airways to power five A330 freighters – won in competition with the airline’s previous A330 engine supplier.

Eric Schulz, Rolls-Royce, President – Civil Large Engines, said: “We are excited about this opportunity and are ready to support the new Airbus A330 Regional programme with an optimised version of our market-leading Trent 700 engine. Our performance advantages have given us a market-leading position on the A330 and we look forward to this latest phase in its development.”

Tom Palmer, Rolls-Royce – Trent 700 Programme Director, said: “Trent 700 Regional engines will also incorporate the latest performance upgrades – an “EP2″ (second enhanced performance) package, available from 2015, will deliver a further one per cent improvement, saving over 60,000 US gallons of fuel per aircraft per year.”