Alcoa Awarded Long-Term Rolls-Royce plc Contract

    DARIEN, Conn., July 10 Alcoa announced today
that its Howmet Castings business and Rolls-Royce plc have agreed on the
principles of a long-term contract for the supply of high-technology,
single-crystal investment castings for the Rolls-Royce Trent 500(R) engine
program.
    The agreement covers high-pressure and intermediate-pressure turbine
components, both nozzle guide vanes and seal segments. Once this contract is
in place, Howmet will be supplying 90% of Rolls-Royce's requirements for these
investment cast turbine components for the Trent 500(R) engine.
    Howmet continues to support Rolls-Royce production, engine development and
design programs from manufacturing facilities in: Exeter, in the United
Kingdom; Dives sur Mer and Gennevilliers, in France; Wichita Falls, Texas;
Winsted, Connecticut; Whitehall, Michigan; and La Porte, Indiana, in the
U.S.A. Howmet will also provide support from its Corporate Engineering Center
in Hampton, Virginia, U.S.A.
    According to James R. Stanley, Howmet's president and ceo, "The new
agreement marks a significant milestone in the development of the
Rolls-Royce-Howmet relationship, in that it takes a longer-term view of our
joint business opportunities."

    Alcoa (http://www.alcoa.com) is the world's leading producer of primary
aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina. It is active in all major segments
of the industry: technology, mining, refining, smelting, fabricating and
recycling. Among its related businesses are packaging, precision castings,
vinyl siding and plastic bottles and closures. Alcoa has 142,000 employees in
37 countries. Howmet Castings (http://www.howmet.com) is the world's largest
manufacturer of precision castings, primarily for jet aircraft and industrial
gas turbine engines.