Why Boeing 787-9 Airlines Face Different Maintenance Costs With Rolls-Royce & GE Engines

Selecting a powerplant for a widebody fleet is one of the most consequential financial commitments an airline executive can make, locking the carrier into a multi-decade maintenance relationship that is quite tough to get out of. During the years where Boeing developed the Boeing 787 family, it made the decision to offer two distinct engine options, with the General Electric GEnx-1B and the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000. The dual-engine strategy successfully distributed supply chain risk and gave network planners purchasing leverage, but it also exposed airlines to vastly divergent operating economics and maintenance profiles.