Air China Airbus A330-200
Rolls-Royce appears to have made good progress with its first engine maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in mainland China, which looks set to start operations ahead of schedule.
State news outlet China Daily reported that Beijing Aero Engine Services (BAESL), a joint venture between Rolls-Royce and Air China, will start operations in late 2025, although it will not reach full capacity until the mid-2030s. Rolls-Royce has been approached for comment.
When the facility was announced in 2022, the plan was for operations to start in 2026, building up to full capacity of 250 shop visits per year over the subsequent decade.
Initially, BAESL will overhaul Trent 700 engines for the Airbus A330, after which Rolls-Royce wants to expand its capabilities to the Trent XWB for the A350 and the Trent 1000 for the Boeing 787.
Air China operates almost 200 engines across all three types, including roughly 100 Trent 700s. Until now, the closest MRO facility for Chinese Trent operators has been HAESL in Hong Kong, Rolls-Royce’s joint venture with HAECO.
There are almost 600 Trent engines in service in China in 2025, according to Aviation Week Network’s Commercial Fleet & MRO Forecast 2025, versus about 550 widebody engines from Rolls-Royce’s main competitor, GE Aerospace.
Aviation Week predicts that Rolls-Royce will maintain this advantage over the next 10 years, climbing to a fleet of 730 widebody engines in China over that time, versus GE’s rise to 670. Notably, by 2034, Rolls-Royce’s most popular engine in China will still be the Trent 700, which entered service in 1995.
Aviation Week forecasts that Trent 700 numbers in the country will decline from roughly 400 in 2025 to 250 in 10 years.
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