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Rolls-Royce Falls as A350 Engine Shutdown Spurs Design Fears

Rolls-Royce Falls as A350 Engine Shutdown Spurs Design Fears

(Bloomberg) -- Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc fell the most in more than a year after the in-flight shutdown of one of its engines on an Airbus SE A350 jet raised concerns that the model may be the latest afflicted by a design defect.

The captain of the Iberia flight from New York to Madrid made an emergency landing in Boston 1 1/2 hours after takeoff when a technical failure was detected, the airline said Wednesday. The plane landed safely and engineers are currently evaluating the problem.

Rolls-Royce Falls as A350 Engine Shutdown Spurs Design Fears

The incident with the Trent XWB engine that’s exclusive to the A350 stoked fears that glitches with the Trent 1000 model made for Boeing Co.’s 787 could carry over to the newer turbine. Rolls has previously said the XWB is based on a different architecture and “categorically” unaffected by the same flaws.

“We are aware of the issue and will be working closely with the airline to support them,” Rolls-Royce said by email following the Iberia incident, adding that it expects the engine to achieve market-leading levels of reliability.

Shares of London-based Rolls fell as much as 4.7 percent, the biggest intraday drop since July 31 last year, and were trading 3.5 percent lower at 940.60 pence as of 10:11 a.m. in the U.K. capital.

--With assistance from William Canny and Gaurav Panchal.

To contact the reporter on this story: Benjamin Katz in London at bkatz38@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, Christopher Jasper, Benedikt Kammel

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