Bahrain
Kuwait
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
UAE
Print
Email
Discuss this article (0 Comments)Rolling revolution
by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Sunday, 11 November 2007
zoom
With the world's aviation experts landing in the emirate for the Dubai Air Show, Rolls-Royce's Middle East regional executive Terry Holland tells Amy Glass how the company is rolling out the red carpet in preparation for the ‘aviation invasion'.
With the high-profile Dubai Air Show set to touch down in the emirate on November 11, Rolls-Royce is preparing to showcase its latest engine offerings to the world's aviation experts and enthusiasts.
Emirates is currently considering a US$20bn contract for a large order of mid-sized aircraft, and could make an announcement for up to 100 planes.
The biennial aviation beauty pageant comes on the back of an increased Gulf and Middle Eastern presence for the UK-based group, including expansion into Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar.
Terry Holland, regional executive for Rolls-Royce's Middle East operations, says the group's air show offering will include models of Rolls-Royce's high-profile Trent family of engines, including the Trent 900, which is the launch engine for the Airbus A380 superjumbo.
Looking down on the Dubai Airport Free Zone, Holland speaks admiringly of the A380, which finally took to the skies with a Singapore Airline flight to Sydney on October 25, after a near two-year delay.
"I caught the news, it was quite an event. It's quite a development for aviation, quite phenomenal. It's a massive machine."
Holland and a team of 30 Rolls-Royce executives are busily preparing for the Dubai Air Show and the bustle that an industry trade shows involves. The group plans to display several military engine models at the show.
The Dubai Air Show is the third largest in the world, after the Paris and London equivalents. Air traffic growth within the Gulf is growing at 6% per annum, currently the fastest growth rate globally.
Air shows are traditionally a time for major aviation announcements, particularly of hard-fought contracts; however, Holland is playing his cards close to his tie-clad chest about this year's prospects.
"Yes, the Dubai Air Show could be big. It's a unique event. It could be good, we just don't know. We signed business worth US$14bn at the Paris Air Show in June this year, and US$7.4bn of that was Middle East engine orders and services contracts. This show we are waiting for news from Emirates, so we don't really know what's going to happen. We'll let you know."
Rolls-royce looking back
If you're a regular air traveller, chances are you've been thrust into the air courtesy of a Rolls-Royce engine at some point.
Despite the obvious link to the classic luxury English automobile, the company sold their automotive operations to British defence company Vickers in 1980, and has since concentrated on building its four other businesses: civil aviation, energy/gas, marine and defence.
The history of Rolls-Royce dates back to 1884, when English engineer Frederick Henry Royce established FH Royce and Co, to manufacture dynamos, electric motors and electric cranes.
He built his first motor car in early 1904. A later meeting with Charles Stewart Rolls, whose company, CS Rolls and Co sold quality cars, resulted in the forging of a business alliance in which Rolls would have the exclusive right to sell Royce's cars, bearing the name Rolls-Royce. The men would go on to launch successful engines and automobiles including the Phantom although the company's jet engine operations came to comprise the largest portion Rolls-Royce's sales.
In the late 1960s Rolls-Royce undertook development of a new, powerful jet engine, the RB211. In order to beat its competitor General Electric, the company agreed to a fixed-price contract with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, to supply the RB211 turbofan for Lockheed's L-1011 TriStar wide-body airliner.
Rolls-Royce management made several miscalculations in the process, including an underestimation of the engine's development costs, sending the company to bankruptcy in February 1971.
Rolls-Royce was nationalised, and the British government met the company's financial obligations.
It subsequently was restructured into two separate entities: Rolls-Royce Ltd, comprising its jet engine operations, was established in 1971 and became a government-owned corporation; Rolls-Royce Motor Holdings Ltd, comprising the automobile and diesel engine operations, was created in 1973 and returned to private stockholders. In 1980 Rolls-Royce Motor Holdings Ltd was acquired by Vickers.
The company did however, retain the rights to the Rolls-Royce name. Vickers, which was acquired by Rolls-Royce in 1999, sold the company to Volkswagen AG in 1998.
In 2003 BMW bought control of the name and the manufacturing of Rolls-Royce cars.
If you're a regular air traveller, chances are you've been thrust into the air courtesy of a Rolls-Royce engine at some point.
Despite the obvious link to the classic luxury English automobile, the company sold their automotive operations to British defence company Vickers in 1980, and has since concentrated on building its four other businesses: civil aviation, energy/gas, marine and defence.
The history of Rolls-Royce dates back to 1884, when English engineer Frederick Henry Royce established FH Royce and Co, to manufacture dynamos, electric motors and electric cranes.
He built his first motor car in early 1904. A later meeting with Charles Stewart Rolls, whose company, CS Rolls and Co sold quality cars, resulted in the forging of a business alliance in which Rolls would have the exclusive right to sell Royce's cars, bearing the name Rolls-Royce. The men would go on to launch successful engines and automobiles including the Phantom although the company's jet engine operations came to comprise the largest portion Rolls-Royce's sales.
In the late 1960s Rolls-Royce undertook development of a new, powerful jet engine, the RB211. In order to beat its competitor General Electric, the company agreed to a fixed-price contract with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, to supply the RB211 turbofan for Lockheed's L-1011 TriStar wide-body airliner.
Rolls-Royce management made several miscalculations in the process, including an underestimation of the engine's development costs, sending the company to bankruptcy in February 1971.
Rolls-Royce was nationalised, and the British government met the company's financial obligations.
It subsequently was restructured into two separate entities: Rolls-Royce Ltd, comprising its jet engine operations, was established in 1971 and became a government-owned corporation; Rolls-Royce Motor Holdings Ltd, comprising the automobile and diesel engine operations, was created in 1973 and returned to private stockholders. In 1980 Rolls-Royce Motor Holdings Ltd was acquired by Vickers.
The company did however, retain the rights to the Rolls-Royce name. Vickers, which was acquired by Rolls-Royce in 1999, sold the company to Volkswagen AG in 1998.
In 2003 BMW bought control of the name and the manufacturing of Rolls-Royce cars.
READERS' COMMENTS
Disclaimer: The views expressed here by our readers are not necessarily shared by ArabianBusiness.com or its employees.
MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM
TOP IN MIDDLE EAST TRANSPORTATION
TOP MIDDLE EAST BUSINESS STORIES
ALSO IN MIDDLE EAST TRANSPORTATION
From 
SHARE PRICE CHECK
RELATED STORIES
Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority (DAFZA)
| 17 stories- Luxury brands eye GCC market
29 Aug '09 | News - Top 10 Middle East warehouse hubs
12 Aug '09 | Features - Dubai Airport Free Zone to double capacity
21 May '09 | News
Qatar Airways
| 189 stories- Qatar committed to cleaner aviation fuels
22 Nov '09 | News - Qatar Airways maintains double digit growth - CEO
27 Oct '09 | News - Battle of the skies
15 Oct '09 | Features
Rolls-Royce
| 6 stories- Etihad may announce major engine orders - report
14 Jun '09 | News - The Brits are back
3 Feb '08 | Features - Powering the future
20 Jan '08 | Features
Mobile
