Stork Fokker has signed a contract with Airbus to develop and manufacture the composite outboard flaps for the A350 XWB widebody twinjet family.
The Dutch company says it expects to produce 140 shipsets of A350 outboard flaps annually during full series production, and adds that the work will sustain around 100 jobs at the company.
"Development activities, scheduled to last 18 months, have already started in Papendrecht in close collaboration with Airbus in Bremen, with first hardware deliveries [due] in 2011," says Fokker.
It says that the A350 flap system will provide a unique capability as "differential flap settings are applied, enabling the centre of lift to be moved depending on the loading scenario".
Fokker already produces the inboard flaps for the Boeing 747-8 and supplies glass fibre reinforced fuselage panels and thermoplastic wing leading edges for the A380.
Stork Fokker - to be renamed Fokker Aerostructures on 1 January 2010 - is part of the Fokker Aerospace Group.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
