- Rolls-Royce revealed flying hours for large engines returned to pre-pandemic levels
- Its civil aerospace division received major engine orders from three airlines
Rolls-Royce has kept its annual guidance unchanged following a continued rebound in air travel since the start of the year.
The engineering giant revealed that large engine flight hours, a measure of how much airlines use their engines, returned to pre-pandemic levels in the first four months of 2024.
It attributed the result to the company’s growing fleet of aircraft containing engines and the recovery in global travel through Asia due to the easing of Covid-related restrictions.
Recovery: Rolls-Royce revealed that large engine flying hours, a measure of how much airlines use their engines, returned to pre-pandemic levels in the first four months of 2024.
Rolls-Royce’s civil aerospace division also received major engine orders from Indian airline IndiGo, Taiwanese airline Starlux and Vietnamese low-cost carrier Vietjet.
Accordingly, the company has maintained full-year forecasts for engine flight hours of up to 110 percent of 2019 volumes, as well as 1,300 to 1,400 workshop visits and 500 to 550 original equipment deliveries. .
On top of this, it anticipates underlying operating profits of around £1.7 billion to £2 billion, compared to £1.6 billion last year, and free cash flow of around £1.9 billion pounds.
Tufan Erginbilgic, chief executive of Rolls-Royce, said: ‘We have made a good start to the year, despite ongoing supply chain challenges across the industry.
‘This builds on our record performance in 2023 and provides further confidence in our 2024 forecasts.
“The targeted investments we are making will continue to drive growth and create value for all our stakeholders in the medium term and beyond.”
Since the former BP executive took over last year, Rolls-Royce has enjoyed a strong turnaround, with its annual profits more than doubling and its cash flow reaching record levels.
Its performance has benefited not only from increased air travel but also from increased defense spending by governments amid escalating conflicts in Ukraine, Asia and the Middle East.
Two months ago, the Australian government chose Rolls-Royce to build power units for nuclear submarines under the AUKUS security agreement.
And earlier this week, Rolls-Royce announced it would provide technology for a new generation of military aircraft dubbed the “Doomsday Plane” as part of the US Air Force’s Airborne Survival Operations Center project.
Additionally, the group is securing new orders in its energy systems business and recently won a contract to provide a large-scale battery storage system to Latvia’s national grid.
Rolls-Royce Holdings Shares They were 0.75 per cent, or 3.2 pence, lower at 424.8 pence on Thursday morning, but have still soared almost 180 per cent in the last 12 months.
