Continued success: Premium AEROTEC makes 5,000th delivery for A320 aircraft family

 The delivery of the 5,000th fuselage shell package of an A320 aircraft marks another chapter in the Premium AEROTEC success story of deliveries for Airbus series production programmes. The complex components – one of which is the 'super shell' – have been manufactured in Nordenham for the past 25 years. Just a few weeks ago, in mid-October, Premium AEROTEC delivered the 5,000th fuselage section for the A320 family from its Augsburg plant.

Augsburg/Nordenham,  21 November 2011

Proof of continuous delivery performance in Airbus series production programmes
Parts manufactured by Premium AEROTEC for the A320 family include outer skin for section 17 and the whole of fuselage section 19
Skin package for section 17 comprises three complex fuselage shells including the 'super shell'
Premium AEROTEC recently completed the 5,000th section 19 at its Augsburg plant
The largest of these three shells manufactured in Nordenham is the one known as the 'super shell'. The component reaches its maximum dimensions for the A321 aircraft type, where the super shell is some nine metres long and nearly four metres wide (chordal dimension), with a maximum weight of around 650 kilograms. After completion of the production and assembly work in Nordenham, the shells are ready for installation – meaning that the surfaces are finished and the shells are equipped with integrated baggage and freight door frames. They are transported by road to Airbus in Hamburg for fuselage assembly.
 
"We intend to further strengthen and expand our position as one of the world's leading suppliers of aircraft fuselage structures. Continuous, high-quality services like those in the A320 programme are our best reference for this," says Premium AEROTEC CEO Kai Horten. "Success stories like this one are based on the competence of our employees and on our innovative power. This is the only way we can cope with the increasing production rates and the ongoing technological development that is constantly necessary."
 
Besides the super shell already mentioned and other large parts of the fuselage outer skin (sections 15 and 17), Premium AEROTEC is also responsible for the production and assembly of the entire section 19 at its Augsburg plant. Section 19 extends from the rear end of the passenger cabin to the beginning of the tail cone, and houses the connecting points for the horizontal and vertical tail planes. Augsburg is responsible for assembling the entire structure of section 19 and fitting its system components. Altogether, this assembly weighs some 600 kilograms, is about 3.2 metres long, and has a maximum diameter of up to 3 metres. The Premium AEROTEC workshare also includes other fuselage and wing components such as the floor beams, the inner flap tracks and their rotation journals, the keel beams and the control device for the vertical tail unit.
 
Premium AEROTEC generated revenues of about 1.3 billion euros in 2010. Its core business is the development and manufacturing of metal and carbon composite aerostructures and the associated equipment and production systems. The company has production plants in Augsburg, Bremen, Nordenham and Varel in Germany, and in Braşov, Romania.