Airbus invests €40 million in Santo Tirso factory

The aeronautics company which will invest €40 million in Portugal has been announced as Stelia Aerospace.

The company is part of Airbus and produces airplane parts including pilot seats and will open a new assembly line in Santo Tirso near Porto.
The deal will create 240 new jobs, 30 of which will be highly qualified,” states the Portuguese overseas investment agency AICEP.
The new unit will develop assembly line production for a number of aviation components which will be then exported to Stelia Aerospace factories at Méaulte and Rochefort in France where they will be fitted onto airplane bodies.
Production will start at the end of this year and will progressively increase to reach maximum production output by 2023.
The news of the investment was revealed last Saturday by the weekly newspaper Expresso but the name of the company had not been revealed.
Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said that the decision to invest by Stelia Aerospace in Portugal was unequivocal confirmation of the high level of competitiveness that Portugal’s aeronautics cluster had already achieved.
“This investment, in a sector of high potential, will certainly contribute to strengthening industrial partnerships but will also encourage cooperation at a research and development level which is essential to meet new future challenges in the aeronautics sector.
“This decision recognises the quality of Portuguese talent as a key factor in attracting investment in Portugal and we should continue to invest in improving the qualifications of our workforce” said António Costa.
Stelia Aerospace has a €2.2Bn turnover per annum and employs 7,000 worldwide: 4,500 in France, 2,500 in the US, Tunisia and Morocco.
It is a world leader in the field of aeronautical infrastructure, pilot and passenger seating for business, executive and first class.
The company also manufactures and assembles front sections of aircraft fuselages for Airbus as well as wing sections that are fully equipped with ATR as well as supplying Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer and Northrop-Grumman.