Rolls-Royce and Thai Airways International have agreed to explore how the two companies will work together to expand the Trent CareNetwork by building on the airline's existing Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) capabilities.

Becoming an Authorised Maintenance Centre (AMC) for Rolls-Royce will enable Thai to support its growing fleet of Rolls-Royce engines while also generating additional capacity and flexibility within the Rolls-Royce CareNetwork.

Thai operates around 80 widebody aircraft, of which more than 50 are powered by Rolls-Royce engines.

Chris Cholerton, Rolls-Royce, President – Civil Aerospace, said that he expected the increased capacity to be available as early as 2019.

The announcement follows an agreement signed by Rolls-Royce and Thai in February to use the carrier's engine testing facilities at Don Mueang Airport to support the Trent XWB engine programme. The maturity and cyclic testing on the engine carried out by the THAI team at this facility will help to provide a fuller understanding of engine performance over a sustained period of operation.

The partnership with THAI comes at a time when Rolls-Royce is introducing three new large civil aero-engines into service. The high-thrust version of the Trent XWB, the Trent XWB-97, entered service on the A350-1000 in February; the Trent 7000 will power the A330neo into service later this year; and the Trent 1000 TEN entered service in November last year on the Boeing 787.