[10] By 2004 Airbus had been facing pressure from customers to develop a competitor to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, so in October 2005 launched the A350, at the time an improved A330.

[11] In 2006, after a review of the Airbus A350, Rolls-Royce reached an agreement to supply all versions of the aircraft with a brand-new Trent XWB variant with 75,000 to 95,000 lbf (330 to 420 kN) of thrust.

[17] On 26 July 2017, Airbus delivered the 100th A350, on track for 10 per month by 2018 end, and over the first 30 months most engine removals have been to stagger the on-wing life of a particular aircraft or to collect in-service data; nine in ten of the Trent XWBs have a long-term service agreements with Rolls, which has designated seven shops as MRO providers: its Derby facility, its joint ventures with HAECO, SIAEC, N3 Engine Overhaul Services [de] and independents Delta TechOps, Mubadala and Air France Industries-KLM.

[21] As the fleet accumulated 2.2 million flight hours and the leading engine has operated 3,500 cycles, an Iberia A350-900 delivered at the end of July diverted to Boston after an inflight shutdown at 41,000 ft (12,000 m) on 11 September 2018 flight from New York to Madrid, apparently due to slight secondary damage on variable stator vanes.

[7] In 2019, the unit losses on the XWB-84 were reduced by over 20%, as Rolls-Royce expected break-even by the end of 2020, while fleet-leading engines had flown over 22,000h without a shop visit.

[23] At the 2023 Dubai Airshow, the president of the Emirates, Tim Clark, said the A350-1000's engine, Trent XWB-97, would offer only a quarter of the time between maintenance visits compared to their needs.

[24][25] Citigroup analysts claim these comments form part of the airline's "commercial negotiation" tactics involving prices or guarantees.

[26] Rolls-Royce was later reported to be working with Emirates to improve durability in "hot and sandy conditions" [27] On 2 September 2024, a Trent XWB powered Cathay Pacific A350-1000 suffered an in-flight engine fire.

[28] The European Union Aviation Safety Agency announced that it would require a one-time inspection of Trent XWB engines as a result of the incident.

[31] On 18 June 2007, Rolls-Royce announced that it had signed a contract with Qatar Airways worth US$5.6 billion at list prices, to power 80 Airbus A350 XWBs: US$35 million each.