DUBAI, June 17 (Reuters) - Startup Riyadh Air has signed

a deal with Rolls-Royce for 116 Trent XWB-97 engines that

will power its Airbus large wide-body fleet, the Saudi

airline said on Tuesday.

The company said in a statement that the deal, which was

signed at the Paris Airshow, was worth several billion dollars,

without providing a specific figure.

The engines will power 50 Airbus A350-1000 jets, Riyadh Air

said, after the airline signed a deal on Monday to buy 25 of the

jets with an option for 25 more.

Riyadh Air is set to commence operations later this year and

its fleet orders amount to 182 aircraft across three fleet

types.

(Reporting by Federico Maccioni, editing by Emelia

Sithole-Matarise)