Citing timetable pressures, Rolls-Royce has withdrawn from the competition to power Boeing’s proposed NMA midsize airliner, thereby leaving two major engine companies to vie for the contract and potentially altering the airframer’s cost and timing calculation for the so-called middle-of-the-market jet. Although Boeing originally said it needed to launch the program by the end of this year to meet its 2025 target for entry into service, late last year it adjusted its sights somewhat, indicating that industrial launch likely wouldn’t happen until 2020. Boeing has long said that the timing of engine technology represented one of the biggest challenges associated with developing a viable new twin-aisle airliner capable of seating between 220 and 270 passengers and flying to a range of up to 5,000 nautical miles. Rolls-Royce, for one, has concluded that it could not meet those challenges in time with its proposed UltraFan.
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