Premium Aerotec, the former German aerostructures arm of EADS, is setting sights on becoming the European version of Spirit AeroSystems - the Onex-owned, aerostructures business in Wichita that has become a supplier to both big airframers after being divested by Boeing in 2005.
The newly spun-off carbonfibre specialist, which has three German factories and revenues of around $1.4 billion, says it will begin tendering for work packages on programmes from rival manufacturers within a few years. Its eventual goal is to capture a major share of tier 1 contracts on next-generation narrowbodies from Airbus and Boeing.
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© AirbusA380 fuselage panels are among Premium Aerotec's current contracts |
"In 10 years' time, we would expect 30% of our business to be with outside customers, with single-aisle aircraft as well as unmanned air vehicles and business jets being the big drivers," says chief executive Hans Lonsinger. "We want to play the same role as Spirit, which is a major supplier on the [Airbus] A350."
The difference with Spirit, however, is that Premium Aerotec - along with French counterpart Aerolia - is owned 100% by the European aerospace giant. It follows the 11th hour collapse of attempts to sell the two structures divisions to Latécoère and MT Aerospace, as part of a move by Airbus to cut costs and become less vertically integrated. Another factor was the need to simplify a cross-border structure seen as contributing to the national posturing that plagued the A380's development.
ARMS LENGTH
Instead Premium Aerotec - which has factories in Augsburg near Munich and Nordenham and Varel in northern Germany - is run at arms length. It has its own profit and loss account and an independent management free to set their own rates and pursue business on the open market.
However, with most significant contests on major current programmes - including the A350 and Bombardier's CSeries - already decided, any serious push is likely to have to wait until Airbus and Boeing invite bidders for successors to the A320 and 737 families. That may not happen until the end of the next decade.
Virtually all Premium Aerotec's work is currently for Airbus, Airbus Military and Eurofighter, for which it builds all centre fuselages for Typhoon assembly lines in the four partner nations: Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.
Premium Aerotec was exhibiting at its first Paris air show last month as an independent brand and its big - if not entirely surprising - news was a $500 million deal to supply the A350's aft pressure bulkhead and floor grid. It had already been contracted to supply the XWB's front fuselage barrel and rear fuselage panels.
The Augsburg-based company is acknowledged as a world-leader in composite technology and uses a patented vacuum assisted process. Its expertise has helped it find its way on to non-Airbus and EADS programmes, although only as a second-tier supplier. It will build the rear pressure bulkhead for the 787 for Vought and is a supplier - via Latécoère - on Dassault Falcon business jets.
Merging Augsburg, which fell within the auspices of EADS's German military business, with the Airbus Deutschland plants at Nordenham and Varel could have presented challenges with different corporate cultures. But Lonsinger says the job was eased because Augsburg was already semi-autonomous within EADS.
FULL DIVESTMENT
A full divestment of Premium Aerotec is still a long-term objective of EADS, says Lonsinger, although the current financial crisis makes that "impossible". Besides, EADS has an agreement with the unions to retain at least 51% of the business until the end of 2011. "After that, they will certainly think about it," he says.
"Until then, our mission is to create a real company and to create value," he adds. "We want to print our name on the wall, show off the capabilities of our 6,000 staff who are proud of what they do, and secure the future of our carbonfibre technology."
Source: Flight International
