Rolls-Royce Experiences a Unique Kind of Hell
The jet-engine maker has plenty of cash and liquidity, but its liabilities are sky high.
Flying low.
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergFew aerospace companies have been left unscarred by Covid-19, but those that were struggling even before the pandemic are experiencing a unique kind of hell.
Boeing Co. was already up against it after grounding its 737 Max jets and it’s expected to burn through as much as $16 billion of cash this year. Among suppliers, few were as vulnerable going into the crisis as Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc, the British jet engine manufacturer. It invested billions of pounds in several new engine designs, only to discover that one — the Trent 1000 — isn’t totally reliable. Fixing this will cost 2.4 billion pounds ($3 billion), and now the collapse in air travel has taken its own toll on Rolls-Royce’s finances.