Corrosion-related fatigue cracking of intermediate pressure (IP) turbine blades was discovered in early 2016, grounding up to 44 aircraft and costing Rolls-Royce at least £1.3 billion.

The 62,264–81,028 lbf (276.96–360.43 kN) engine has a bypass ratio over 10:1, a 2.85 m (9 ft 4 in) fan and keeps the characteristic three-spool layout of the Trent series.

[2] On 18 June 2007, it made its first flight from TSTC Waco Airport in Texas, on Rolls-Royce's flying testbed, a modified Boeing 747-200.

[13] Fuel burn is reduced through its improved intermediate pressure compressor where the rear stages spin at higher speeds.

Revising a weight-saving feature called 'banded stators' and other design issues delayed FAA Part 33 engine certification.

[13] Meeting smoke-emissions limits at landing and takeoff mode points but not at certain thrusts, in August 2017 Rolls-Royce asked the FAA for a temporary exemption through 2019 to develop a modification.

[18] The Trent 1000 is a high bypass turbofan with three independent, coaxial shafts and a single annular combustor with 18 spray nozzles.

This time there were six partners: Kawasaki Heavy Industries (intermediate compressor module), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (combustor and low pressure turbine blades), Industria de Turbo Propulsores (low pressure turbine), Carlton Forge Works (fan case), Hamilton Sundstrand (gearbox) and Goodrich Corporation (engine control system).

Engines showing excessive corrosion were pulled from service and repaired in a shop visit, more corrosion-resistant blades were developed and rolled-out.

This condition, if not detected and corrected, could lead to in-flight blade release, possibly resulting in reduced control of the aeroplane.

[32] Boeing dispatched 737 MAX head VP Keith Leverkuhn to help Rolls-Royce overcome the problems, showing their importance as 34 aircraft are grounded and this number could rise in coming months as the 383 affected engines power a quarter of the 787 fleet.

Rolls-Royce assigned 200 people to solve the issue and installs a revised IP compressor blade for early June testing, accelerating a permanent fix development to have parts available for overhaul from late 2018.

[35] In early June, a redesigned blade was flight tested on Rolls-Royce's 747-200 as 35 were grounded, and easing ETOPS restrictions would need convincing regulatory agencies that disrupting a single-engine diversion is improbable enough.

A precautionary redesign of the Package B part was started, as for the Trent 1000 TEN, while its young fleet did not show reduced IPC durability.

[42] Exposing the base material to low-cycle fatigue, the thermal barrier coating on the IP turbine blades was eroded prematurely by "hot corrosion" caused by high atmospheric sulfur due to polluting industries around large Asia-Pacific cities.

The initial fix, a revised base material and coating to counter IP turbine corrosion, was installed by September 2018 in over 62% of the affected fleet.

[43] The failure mechanism was not clearly understood when the issue was discovered in March, after four compressor blades on the first IP rotor and one on the second failed in a high-time engine.

This caused wear and tear leading to microcracks in the blades roots, growing to proper cracks failing after around 1,000 cycles and resulting in an inflight shutdown.

[43] In March 2018, Rolls conservatively limited single engine operating at maximum continuous power to 140 min, leading regulators to restrict ETOPS.

Flights should begin at the end of September off the California coast, it will be run at FL120 and maximum power like a single engine ETOPS diversion, to be followed by cold weather tests in Alaska.

[48] On 10 August 2019, a Norwegian Long Haul Boeing 787-8 departing Rome had an engine failure, and the crew managed an event-less emergency landing.

Parts damaged the plane's left wing, horizontal stabiliser, fuselage and main landing gear tyres, and fell over urban areas.