By Jordan Green
Rolls-Royce Announces Expansion of Its SelectCare Service
Earlier this week, Rolls-Royce announced a new offering within its SelectCare Service, SelectCare Repair.
Rolls-Royce originally introduced its SelectCare engine service back in 2016. American Airlines was the first customer, opting for the program to service all RB211-535 engines powering the carrier’s Boeing 757 fleet. Of course, American Airlines retired its 757 fleet earlier this year, sooner than anticipated, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When SelectCare launched, Rolls-Royce described the service as allowing customers “to tailor the services they require across an agreed number of engine shop visits to match their service needs and budget.” The company also noted that SelectCare “fits between” its other service offerings, TotalCare and MRO Services.
The new addition to the SelectCare service, SelectCare Repair, is aimed at operators of the Trent 700 powered Airbus A330. The Trent 700 first entered service in 1995 and powers the Airbus A330-200 and 300 variants.
SelectCare Repair targets shop visits required between scheduled refurbishments (examples Rolls-Royce provides include visits required due to component failure or foreign object ingestion). Under SelectCare Repair, these shop visits are covered for a dollar per engine flying hour fee with no cap on the number of qualifying visits. Additionally, there is no cap on the cost of a particular shop.
Dominic Horwood, Services Director, Civil Aerospace Rolls-Royce, said of the addition of SelectCare Repair: “By adding SelectCare Repair to our existing portfolio of services options in our CareStore, we are pleased to offer our customers further flexibility in how they choose to maintain their engines while enjoying a high degree of cost certainty. At a time when the aviation landscape is constantly evolving, we believe SelectCare Repair and SelectCare Refurb will give our customers the agility to react to their engine maintenance demands and tailor their refurbishment regime to meet their individual needs.”
The addition of SelectCare Repair to Rolls-Royce’s service options is another example of the increasing popularity of manufacturer-sponsored maintenance programs. The popularity of such programs is no surprise. The benefits of the cost certainty the programs provide operators is clear and the programs allow carriers to operate and maintain their fleets more efficiently and cost-effectively.
Jordan focuses his writing on innovations in commercial aviation, aviation history, and other interesting topics he feels are worthy of discussion in the community.
