First A350 XWB fuselage section begins sea journey from Premium AEROTEC in Nordenham to Hamburg

Premium AEROTEC is delivering an assembled A350 XWB fuselage section 13/14 to Airbus for the first time. After being completed in Nordenham, the first section left the plant and was prepared for shipment by sea to Hamburg. Securely packaged in a special transport container, Premium AEROTEC’s largest A350 XWB component rolled out of the assembly hall and on to the plant’s dock.
Augsburg/Nordenham,  10 November 2011

The fuselage section takes about 12 hours to be shipped to Hamburg. On arrival, Airbus will equip it with system installations and prepare it for final assembly, which will take place in Toulouse, France.

The outer skin of the A350 XWB fuselage is made of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP), which is increasingly becoming the material of choice for aerostructures thanks to its low weight and excellent corrosion-free properties. Premium AEROTEC’s upcoming deliveries within its A350 XWB work packages will be decisive landmarks in the shift from predominantly metal-based aircraft construction to CFRP technology. Beyond fuselage section 13/14 Premium AEROTEC is also responsible in particular for the rear-fuselage side shells (sections 16-18), the floor structure and the pressure bulkhead of this rear fuselage module in this new aircraft generation.

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.