Rolls-Royce CEO says will soon provide update on commercial marine unit review

DERBY, England (Reuters) - The chief executive of Britain's Rolls-Royce said he hoped to "soon" be able to provide an update on the outcome of a strategic review of the company's commercial marine business.

The company said in January that it could sell the loss-making commercial marine unit, a part of its business which designs and makes equipment used in oil and gas extraction.

Asked about Rolls-Royce's problematic Trent 1000 engines which power the Boeing Dreamliner 787, CEO Warren East told shareholders at an annual meeting that he expected the current grounded aircraft situation to be over much sooner than 2022.

Some engines are requiring extra inspections due to parts not lasting as long as expected meaning that airlines are having to ground approximately 30 Trent 1000-powered aircrafts at any one time.

"Based on where we are at the moment, we would expect to remove the aircraft on the ground situation much, much faster than 2022," East said.

Rolls has said that the problems will be fully resolved by 2022.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Kate Holton)