STELIA Aerospace opens new assembly site in Portugal

Aerostructure and aircraft seat manufacturer STELIA Aerospace has opened a new assembly site in Portugal to enhance its production resources.

The facility will be used to assemble aerostructure sub-assembly works for sections. Integration will be carried out at the company’s Méaulte and Rochefort sites in France.

Portugal Prime Minister António Costa said: “This investment in a high potential sector will certainly contribute to the deepening of industrial partnerships, but will also induce research and development cooperation, which are essential to meet the new challenges facing the future of the aeronautical sector.”

The facility is scheduled to begin operations later this year with full production by late 2023. It is located in Santo Tirso, north-east of Porto.

It is also expected to strengthen STELIA’s industrial setup, which consists of five sites and seven subsidiaries in Europe, North Africa and North America.

STELIA Aerospace CEO Cédric Gautier said: “The creation of this new entity is fully part of the industrial optimisation strategy that we implemented at the creation of STELIA Aerospace in 2015, in view of boosting the performance and global competitiveness of the company.

“It will allow us to absorb potential increases in our customer’s activity, in order to better address tomorrow’s challenges, in an ever more competitive world.”

Built with an investment of more than €40m ($44m), the fully operational facility is expected to generate 240 jobs, including 30 qualified positions.