Leonardo-Finmeccanica and Airbus reached the agreement on the commercial conditions for the construction of the front fuselage, section 14A, of the new configuration of the Airbus A321 today in Toulouse. Leonardo will produce, at its production site in Nola (Naples), starting from 2018, the aerostructure of the new configuration of the single-engine twin-engine aircraft capable of carrying 185 passengers in the typical two-class configuration or up to 220 people in the version economy.
The collaboration with Airbus for the A321 program dates back to the 1991, when the agreement was signed for the design and production of the front section of the aircraft fuselage that is shipped from the Leonardo plant in Nola to the French Airbus plant in St. Nazaire, where the assembly takes place.
The Nola plant started its activity in the 1995 with the production of aerostructures for various programs also with international partners such as Airbus. Employs about 850 highly skilled employees. In Nola, machined parts are produced and metal sheets are fabricated and panels are assembled with a high level of integration and industrial automation. The Nola production site, in fact, has been conceived since its design to create aerostructures with a high level of quality and competitiveness. The plant is characterized by a production process whose control is largely managed by a single computerized system whose components are highly integrated with each other. A Nola also produces components of the main aeronautical programs worldwide such as the Eurofighter Typhoon or the Airbus A380, "the giant of the skies".
(photo: Leonardo-Finmeccanica)
