Boeing has completed flight tests of a shorter Trent 1000 engine inlet on a 787-9 as part of its ecoDemonstrator programme, wrapping up a campaign at its Glasgow, Montana, facility with Rolls-Royce and the FAA’s CLEEN initiative. The work focused on whether a newly treated inlet duct could match current 787 noise levels while improving fuel efficiency by up to 0.5%.
The test aircraft, a Lufthansa-owned 787 powered by Trent 1000 engines, logged about 52 flight hours over 12 flights before returning to Columbia in early August. Boeing is now analysing the results ahead of any further design steps.
The inlet work forms part of Boeing’s broader effort to refine nacelle aerodynamics and acoustics for future 787 variants. Early projections from the programme point to a possible fuel-burn improvement of up to 2% and a noise reduction of as much as 1.5 dB if the concept advances into more compact engine installations. Boeing and Rolls-Royce have been developing the short inlet concept for several years, including earlier testing on Rolls-Royce’s 747 testbed in 2022.