Rolls Royce reported a 74% increase in operating profit to £1.1Bn in H1 2024.

In H1 2024, Rolls Royce received 273 large jet engines orders, with significant new orders coming from Indigo Korean Air Delta and VietJet. The company’s best-selling jet engine is the Trent-series XWB-97 an engine model launched in 2017.

The XWB-97 jet engine houses nearly a tonne of high- and intermediate-pressure superalloys critical to the turbine blades and discs of the engine and the model is on track to become the 11th engine model to add over 500tpy of superalloy demand to the aerospace industry by 2026, according to Project Blue data.

Superalloy demand in aircraft jet engines declined 30% y-o-y in 2020, with aircraft orders slowing after Boeing’s fatal crashes and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. While demand for jet engines recovered strongly in 2023, ongoing issues for Boeing are expected to see overall demand decline slightly again in 2024 based on year-to-date aircraft delivery data. However, Rolls Royce’s deliveries of large commercial aircraft engines mostly supplying Airbus, the OEM is set to capture market share.

Aircraft deliveries and engines are expected to see further stepwise recovery in the near term, with superalloy demand in jet engines reaching record levels again from 2026 onwards.