The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an airworthiness directive on June 12, 2018, ordering one-off inspections of the intermediate pressure compressors and shafts on Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 Package B engines after the manufacturer had identified potential durability issues.

The inspections of engines, installed exclusively on B787-8 and B787-9 types, which have accumulated 1,000 flight cycles or more are to happen within 30 days, while the deadline for the other units is 60 days.

The engine manufacturer has said that in total 166 Package B engines are installed on active aircraft, although the durability issues are affecting only a limited number of these.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has so far not issued its own AD mandating additional checks.

The new issue adds to the existing woes concerning the Package C Trent 1000 engines which have marred the industry since 2017. The manufacturer initially estimated it will spend an extra GBP370 million pounds (USD490 million) on replacing the affected engines but have since admitted that the final bill is likely to be higher. According to The Guardian, the problems could cost the British manufacturer up to GBP1 billion.

Rolls-Royce has also said that it will redesign certain components in both Package B Trent 1000s, as well as the newest version Trent 1000 TEN, which has so far not been affected by any durability issues.

It is recalled that in March, Rolls-Royce, in conjunction with the EASA, issued an AD requiring operators of Package C Trent 1000 powerplants to carry out earlier than usual maintenance checks on a specific part of the engine compressor. This check was already required prior to the engine reaching a threshold of 2,000 cycles, although the EASA later reduced that timeframe to just 300 cycles.

In addition, in early May the FAA issued another directive effectively limiting the affected B787s' ETOPS capabilities, forcing the operators to remain within a 60-minute diversion range at all times.

Operators of the affected Trent 1000 engine variants include British Airways, Thai Airways International, Air Europa, Avianca, Ethiopian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Norwegian, Norwegian UK, Scoot, Air New Zealand, Royal Brunei Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and LATAM Airlines. Most of these carriers have already grounded some of their B787s for inspections, and many have been forced to wet- or dry-lease additional aircraft.