By Robert Wall and Ian Walker 

LONDON--Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC said Friday it has won its largest ever order from Emirates Airline worth $9.2 billion to power Airbus A380 superjumbos.

Under the agreement Rolls-Royce will provide Trent 900 engines and its TotalCare long-term support service to Emirates. The engines will power 50 A380 aircraft that will enter service from 2016.

Dubai-based Emirates in November 2013 said it would buy 50 more A380 double-deckers, though it held off on making an engine decision.

Emirates, by far the biggest operator of A380s, selected the Engine Alliance, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney unit to power its first 90 A380 jets. The airline, the world's largest by international traffic, now has 60 of the double-decker jets in operation, the Emirates said.

"We have been impressed with its commitment to continual improvements in the economic and operational performance of the Trent 900. These improvements have been decisive factors in our selection of the product for 50 of our A380s," said the airline's president Tim Clark. The Rolls-Royce engine may deliver a fuel-efficiency gain over the engine Emirates currently uses on its A380s, Mr. Clark said in an interview.

Rolls-Royce had secured more airline commitments for its A380 engine, though its rival sold more engines largely by winning Emirates as the customer. Production of Trent 900 engines, which are assembled in Singapore, is now assured through the end of the decade with Emirates deliveries extending past 2020.

The deal marks an important breakthrough for Rolls-Royce at Emirates, one of the premier buyers of long-haul planes. The London-based engine maker had no contracts with Emirates after the carrier last year canceled a deal for Airbus A350 jets. The airline is again considering buying the plane in competition against Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliners. That selection is at an advanced stage, Mr. Clark said.

Airlines typically operate one engine type to avoid complexity and cost. Mr. Clark said, though, that the carrier's two A380 fleets with different engines are big enough to avoid that being an issue.

Emirates has been pushing to improve the Airbus A380 with new engines. Rolls-Royce officials have indicated they would consider building a new engine for the upgraded jet, referred to as the A380neo. Mr. Clark said he expected an A380neo with new Rolls-Royce engines to deliver double-digit-percentage efficiency gains. There is no contractual link between the order for the Trent 900 and any future A380neo engine deal, Mr. Clark said.

Airbus said it is studying whether to proceed with such a program. The plane maker is trying to assess whether there is demand for such a plane beyond Emirates. Airbus said it would continue to improve the A380 even if that doesn't involve putting new engines on the plane.

"As we continue to develop innovative solutions to further improve its already unbeatable economics, we see a long and bright future for the A380, which remains the best solution for enabling air traffic to grow," Airbus jetliner boss Fabrice Brégier said in a statement on Friday.

Emirates said it could buy as many as 200 of the upgraded A380neo jets if Airbus were to build the model. The first of the regular A380 jets with Rolls-Royce engines is expected to be handed over late next year.

-Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com; @IanWalk40289749 and Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com

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