{"id":67384,"date":"2026-06-21T09:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T09:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/67384\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T09:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T09:46:12","slug":"rolls-royce-races-to-build-engine-which-will-slash-cost-of-air-travel-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/67384\/","title":{"rendered":"Rolls-Royce races to build engine which will slash cost of air travel | Politics | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rolls-Royce has the chance to lead the world in the next generation of aircraft<\/a> engines which have the potential to slash the price<\/a> of tickets as well as carbon emissions<\/a> and noise levels. New \u201cUltrafan\u201d technology is in development at Rolls-Royce\u2019s giant facilities at Derby<\/a> where generations of families have worked for the engineering powerhouse. Designers are racing against a host of international competitors to be the first to unlock a new chapter in aviation.<\/p>\n

Rolls-Royce is poised to re-enter the engine market for \u201cnarrowbody\u201d aircraft \u2013 the medium-sized planes used by many Britons to reach their holiday destinations<\/a> each year. Production of this size of plane is forecast to double over the next 25 years in what it considers the \u201csingle biggest growth opportunity for the UK aerospace industry over the next 50 years\u201d.<\/p>\n

The company is now pushing the Government for investment to turbo-charge the development of Ultrafan engines, which it is promised will be radically more efficient than those in use today, and on Thursday industry minister Chris McDonald met with Rolls-Royce and examined the work in progress. Derby is home to the world’s largest indoor aerospace testbed and the multi-year testing process pits the engines against the harshest conditions.<\/p>\n

Mr McDonald told the Express the new engine had the potential to \u201ctake on the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

He vented his frustration that too often world-changing innovations are pioneered in the UK but mass-produced overseas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat does happen,\u201d he said. \u201cIt happens a lot. And it really annoys me, and it really frustrates me\u2026 We are the idea factory of the world. I want us to be the machinery, equipment, engineering, aerospace factory of the world as well. And we’ve got the capability to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr McDonald, who studied chemical engineering at Cambridge before gaining an MBA from Warwick, said he was \u201cworking hand in glove\u201d with companies including Rolls-Royce to ensure \u201cwe keep the fruits of our research and innovation in this country\u201d.<\/p>\n

Describing the importance of Rolls-Royce\u2019s success for \u201cnational pride\u201d, he said: \u201cWhen I fly off on my holidays, I want to be on an airplane with Union Jack stickers on the side of Rolls-Royce\u2019s jet engine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adamant that the UK can compete with its biggest rivals, he said: \u201cOf course we can be as good as Belgium, but we can be as good as France and Germany and the US and everyone else as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Insisting that \u201cheavy industry is still really important to our country\u201d, the Hartlepool-born Stockton North MP described the cost to communities when major manufacturers close.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen those industries have gone, nothing else has come in quite often, so those areas are still left behind,\u201d he said. adding: \u201cThis is a big, really important moment for re-industrialisation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rolls-Royce has the chance to lead the world in the next generation of aircraft engines which have the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[20731],"tags":[30859,254,31471,1238,31470,31469],"class_list":["post-67384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rolls-royce","tag-cars-section","tag-economy","tag-re-industrialisation","tag-rolls-royce","tag-uk-aerospace-industry","tag-ultrafan-technology"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116787464271122756","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}