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10 September 2003
ALENIA CELEBRATES DELIVERY OF A380 FUSELAGE SECTION

Italian company Alenia Aeronautica delivers major A380 components to the Airbus plant in Saint Nazaire, France.

Guests from Italian regional government and business joined Airbus and supplier Alenia Aeronautica to celebrate the official start of deliveries by the company’s facility in Nola, southern Italy.

Alenia is supplying the enormous ‘double decker’ central section of the A380 fuselage, which is seven metres wide and 23 metres long. The section has been produced using light aluminium alloys and comes fully equipped with systems such as air conditioning.

Guests watched the upper segment of the central fuselage being loaded onto a trailer truck to begin its two-day journey to the port of Naples. This is one of the first parts of the section, which is manufactured as six separate components, the upper, two lateral, the floor structure and the rear. From there, the components were loaded onto a dedicated vessel for transport by sea to Airbus’ site in Saint Nazaire, France. They will be joined to the lower front element, previously delivered on 14 August and to the other parts of the fuselage before being sent to Toulouse for final assembly.

Alenia Aeronautica has invested significantly in its A380-related production facilities. For the design of the central fuselage section, the company adopted concurrent engineering techniques, allowing production and design teams from both Airbus and Alenia to work together in real-time. Laser tracking methods to ensure maximum efficiency have been installed.

Charles Champion, Airbus executive vice-president A380 programme, paid tribute to the successful relationship between Airbus and Alenia, which dates from 1980 when the company began the supply of tail cones for the A300/A310 programme. He described the advanced technologies used to manufacture the central fuselage section as core to providing air travel’s most flexible, innovative and comfortable cabin.