The group plummeted to the mammoth loss last year from underlying pre-tax profits of £583 million in 2019 as the coronavirus crisis hammered the global aviation industry.

On a statutory basis, Rolls reported pre-tax losses of £2.9 billion against losses of £891 million in 2019.

It said there had been a “severe impact of Covid-19 pandemic on group performance and near-term outlook”.

The group said it had taken swift action to slash costs by an extra £1 billion amid aims to save a total of £1.3 billion by 2022, including 7,000 job losses in 2020.

A total of 9,000 job cuts are expected, with around two-thirds going in the UK.

Warren East, chief executive of Rolls-Royce, said: “We have taken decisive actions to enhance our financial resilience and permanently improve our operational efficiency, resulting in a regrettable, but unfortunately very necessary, reduction in the size of our workforce.

“With the support of our stakeholders we successfully secured additional liquidity with a rights issue, bond issuance and further credit facilities put in place during the year.

“We have made a good start on our programme of disposals and will continue with this in 2021.”