Aircraft flooring system supplier Metzeler (booth 840) is at the forefront of its new parent company Cooper Standard Automotive's ambitions to grow its aerospace footprint.
Mannheim, Germany-based Metzeler - best known as a motorcycle tyre manufacturer, with its blue elephant corporate logo intended to emphasize the thick skin of its products - has been supplying floor coverings and sealants to airlines since the early 1980s. It was taken over by Cooper Standard in 2008 and has been selected as a galley flooring supplier for the Boeing 787 programme. It expects to bid for work on the rival Airbus A350 and already supplies other Airbus programmes.
Metzeler is at the show promoting its silicon rubber galley flooring products Airfloor and Airflex, which aviation products business director George Cluett says are the only non-textile flooring materials manufactured from silicone upper layers and laminated to an integral structural backing. "Other manufacturers use PVC-based materials which have inherent disadvantages," he says.
Source: Flight Daily News
