LATAM Airlines is renewing its partnership with Rolls-Royce by selecting the latest Trent 1000 XE engines to power three incoming Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The order, announced by the engine manufacturer on April 29, 2026, comes despite the airline's previous experience with reliability challenges on earlier Trent 1000 variants that affected its widebody operations.
Those earlier problems centered on premature degradation of high-pressure turbine blades and other components, leading to repeated maintenance interventions and aircraft availability issues. In 2018, the then-chief executive of LATAM Airlines Group reported that as many as 14 Dreamliners had been grounded at one stage due to the Trent 1000 concerns. The difficulties, which affected multiple operators worldwide, prompted LATAM to select competing GE Aerospace GEnx turbofans for several of its subsequent 787 commitments.
According to fleet data, LATAM Airlines and its Brazilian affiliate currently operate a combined 39 Boeing 787s, of which 37 are Trent-powered and two use GEnx engines. The group has 16 unfilled orders for the type, with 11 previously assigned to GEnx and the powerplant choice for the remainder listed as unannounced prior to this commitment.
The Trent 1000 XE represents Rolls-Royce's response to the durability shortcomings. Introduced following a two-phase enhancement programme, the updated engine features a re-engineered high-pressure turbine blade that provides 40 percent more cooling airflow. Additional modifications include an updated combustion chamber, revised fuel spray nozzles, enhanced electronic controller software, lighter blade shrouds, improved nozzle guide vanes and advanced coatings. Rolls-Royce states that the changes more than double the time between scheduled maintenance visits. Confidence in the package is supported by operational experience from similar upgrades applied to the related Trent 7000 engine, which has accumulated more than two million flight hours.
Tufan Erginbilgic, chief executive of Rolls-Royce, welcomed the order as evidence of growing customer trust. He pointed to the company's substantial investments in improving engine time-on-wing, expanding its global maintenance repair and overhaul network with dedicated facilities in the United Kingdom, Germany and Singapore, and growing its spare engine pool. These steps, part of a broader one billion pound commitment to the Trent engine family, are designed to deliver industry-leading reliability and protect operators from unplanned disruptions.
Roberto Alvo, chief executive of LATAM Airlines Group, described the selection as consistent with the carrier's long relationship with Rolls-Royce dating back to 2012. He noted that the Trent 1000 XE will support improved operational efficiency and provide strategic flexibility as the airline expands its long-haul network across the Americas, Europe and beyond.
Rolls-Royce offers the engines with its TotalCare long-term service agreement, which transfers maintenance cost and availability risks to the manufacturer and includes predictive planning to optimize fleet utilization. No specific delivery schedule for the three aircraft was disclosed by either party.
The order is viewed within the industry as a modest but symbolically important step in Rolls-Royce's campaign to regain market share on the Boeing 787 platform, where it initially held a strong position before the durability challenges shifted some customer preferences toward GE Aerospace. With the XE now established as the production standard for new Trent 1000-powered 787s and upgrade programmes underway for in-service engines, the manufacturer aims to demonstrate that the reliability issues belong firmly in the past.
For LATAM, the choice maintains a high degree of engine commonality across the majority of its 787 fleet while preserving the mixed-fleet strategy that has provided operational optionality. The development underscores the competitive dynamics between the two major engine suppliers for Boeing's flagship widebody twin.