Airbus Atlantic first step of integration aerostructures

The plan was announced in February 2021, but since January 1 this new year 2022, Airbus has officially integrated its French, Portuguese, Morrocan, Tunesian, and Canadian aerostructures businesses within a single entity: Airbus Atlantic. A second one based in Germany is still a work in progress, depending on the outcome of tough negotiations with unions. Airbus Atlantic first step of integration aerostructures.

During the presentation of the FY20 results

last February, CEO Guillaume Faury announced that Airbus would keep and reorganize its aerostructures businesses STELIA Aerospace and Premium AEROTEC rather than divesting of them. “When they were created some fifteen years ago, it was thought that at a point in time they could be divested. But also placing it in the wave of disruption and innovation that is coming, like decarbonization and the Digital Design, Manufacturing and Services (DDMS) approach, the connection between the design and the production system itself is probably far more important in the new digital world than it was before. Therefore, we think it really makes sense to keep it connected.” 

In April, Faury offered some more details on the integration: “Fuselage aerostructures are a central part of the Airbus value stream. Today, however, our activities in this field are fragmented across the company, our subsidiaries, and suppliers. Only by consolidating our core assets can we realize the full potential of DDMS and improve our ability to customize aircraft with less disruption to our production system. In doing so, we can reduce both lead times and cost.“