Santo Tirso, Portugal, July 31, 2024 (Lusa) - Airbus Atlantic Portugal announced on Wednesday that it would increase the area of its factory in Santo Tirso by 5,500 square metres, corresponding to 30% of the industrial area, which should be operational in the first quarter of 2026.
According to a statement sent to the press today, ‘Airbus Atlantic will increase the area of its factory in Santo Tirso [district of Porto] by 5,500 square metres, expanding the industrial surface by around 30%. '
According to the text, ‘the tender for the expansion of the building will be launched in September and work is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2025’, and ‘the new production area should be operational in the first quarter of 2026’.
According to the company, the expansion ‘aims to respond to the significant growth in Airbus programmes, given that Airbus Atlantic Portugal currently produces fuselage sections for the Airbus A320 and A350 families’.
Quoted in the statement, the managing director of Airbus Atlantic Portugal, Eric Belloc, said that the company ‘reaffirms its confidence and recognition of Portugal's competences in the manufacture of aeronautical structures’.
The company's facilities currently occupy around 20,000 square metres on a 7.2 hectare site in the Ermida industrial zone in Santo Tirso.
Airbus Atlantic Portugal employs 300 people, half of whom are women in the production sector, and ‘is hiring professionals for various areas, with the aim of reaching 350 workers by the end of 2024’.
Worldwide, Airbus Atlantic has 14,000 employees spread across five countries and three continents, with an estimated turnover of €5.2 billion in 2024.
Airbus Atlantic designs and manufactures front and centre fuselage sections for the Airbus family, as well as complex fuselage sections specifically for Airbus or fully equipped wings for the ATR 42/72.
The company produces the fully equipped centre fuselage for the Bombardier Global 7500, the centre fuselage for the Dassault Aviation Falcon 10X and complex metal and composite aerostructure parts for various aircraft manufacturers.
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