Rolls-Royce Pearl 15 engine receives Transport Canada certification

The Pearl engine was custom-designed to power the Bombardier Global 5500 and Global 6500 business jets.

The Pearl 15, the latest addition to Rolls-Royce’s market-leading business aviation engine portfolio, has received official certification by Transport Canada (TCA). The engine, which was developed at the Rolls-Royce Centre of Excellence for Business Aviation engines in Dahlewitz, Germany, is the exclusive engine option for the newest members of Bombardier’s Global business jet family, namely the Global 5500 aircraft and the Global 6500 aircraft.

The Pearl engine was custom-designed to power the Global 5500 and Global 6500 aircraft, which have the longest range in their category. The Global 5500 and Global 6500 aircraft also have the largest cabin in their category and feature Bombardier’s signature smooth ride technology.

Since receiving EASA certification in 2018, the Pearl 15 has undergone a comprehensive test programme, and aircraft mounted with the Pearl are undergoing final flight validation on track for a planned entry into service in 2019.

Rolls-Royce is the world’s leading engine supplier for business aviation, powering more than 3,000 aircraft in service today. The Pearl 15 is the first of the planned state-of-the-art Pearl engine family for business aviation and marks the sixth new civil aerospace engine introduced by Rolls-Royce in the past 10 years. The introduction of this new engine family reaffirms Rolls-Royce’s leading position in business aviation.

Dr Dirk Geisinger, Director – Business Aviation, Rolls-Royce, said: “This certification makes us very proud, as it illustrates the dedication of our global team to support our customer Bombardier and the planned entry into service later this year. We have worked closely with the teams at Transport Canada and Bombardier to achieve this certification and would like to thank them for their support.”

The Pearl engine combines innovative technologies derived from the Rolls-Royce Advance2 technology demonstrator programmes with proven features from the BR700, today’s most successful engine family in business aviation. The Pearl 15 also exemplifies Rolls-Royce’s pioneering IntelligentEngine vision of a future where product and service become indistinguishable thanks to advancements in digital capability. As well as a new-generation Engine Health Monitoring System that introduces advanced vibration detection, the engine benefits from the incorporation of advanced remote engine diagnostics and bi-directional communications that allow for easy remote reconfiguration of engine-monitoring features from the ground.

Compared with the highly successful BR710, the Pearl 15 features the same nacelle envelope but is more powerful, with a maximum certified thrust of 15,250lb; has up to seven per cent better specific fuel consumption; is two dB cumulative quieter, and shows a 20 per cent improvement in NOx emissions margin.

Designed for outstanding reliability, the Pearl family will be supported by the industry-leading Rolls-Royce CorporateCare^® Enhanced service, the most comprehensive aftermarket programme in business aviation, providing full transfer of off-wing maintenance risk at a predictable, fixed price. For a predefined hourly cost, CorporateCare Enhanced covers maintenance for the whole powerplant including nacelle, exhaust unit, EBU and thrust reverser unit-related services.

23 September 2019