Stelia Aerospace (stylized STELIA Aerospace) is an

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...

company headquartered in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. It specializes in the design and

manufacture Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ra ...

of aerostructures, pilot seats and

premium class First class (also known as a suite) is a travel class on some Airliner, passenger airliners intended to be more luxurious than business class, premium economy, and economy class. Originally all planes offered only one class of service (often equ ...

passenger seats, mainly for the commercial

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot ...

sector. Stelia Aerospace was created on 1 January 2015 by the merger of two

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

business units: ''Aerolia'' and ''SOGERMA''. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of

History

Stelia Aerospace can trace its origins back to the merge of two companies, SOGERMA and Aerolia. SOGERMA (''Société girondine d’entretien et de réparation de matériel aéronautique'') was a French company founded in 1924 amid the early days of aviation. Prior to its restructuring in 2006, the company largely focused on maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), but subsequently directed its resources to its specialist

aerostructures An aerostructure is a component of an aircraft's airframe. This may include all or part of the fuselage, wings, or flight control surfaces. Companies that specialize in constructing these components are referred to as "aerostructures manufacturer ...

and seating activities. AEROLIA SA was founded on 1 January 2009 as a

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...

of Airbus France's aerostructures activities. This involved the Méaulte and

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean ...

industrial plants, along with a design office in

. In 2007, EADS' management decided to respond to the weakening

US dollar The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

and large investments required for the

Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...

and

A350 XWB The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the A330 wi ...

programs by restructuring in order to streamline, divest several non-core activities, and cut costs. Aerospace periodical

Flight International ''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's olde ...

compared the move to

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...

's then-recent spin-off of Spirit AeroSystems. On 1 January 2015, ''Stelia Aerospace'' was created via the

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

of Aerolia and Sogerma. At the time, Stelia Aerospace employed roughly 6,100 staff across 11 different locations, and the two merged businesses were considered "complementary". Contracts previously undertaken by the two firms carried over to the new entity, including those for fitting-out work on Airbus airliners. In March 2017, Stelia Aerospace inaugurated its new aeronautics factory in Méaulte, Northern

; this facility, which handles production of the forward fuselages of Airbus airliners and central fuselage of

Bombardier Aerospace Bombardier Aviation is a division of Bombardier Inc. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. Its most popular aircraft included the Dash 8 Series 400, CRJ100/200/440, and CRJ700/900/1000 lines of regional airliners, and the newer ...

’s Global 7500 series of

business jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pu ...

s, had required a €70 million investment. In February 2018, Stelia Aerospace demonstrated a metallic fuselage panel manufactured using

3D printing 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer ...

techniques. The same year, the firm acquired a majority share of Toulouse-based digital modelling specialist Portalliance Engineering. In October 2019, Stelia Aerospace announced plans to build a new assembly plant in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

at a cost of €40 million. In February 2020, the company started a three-year partnership with Bombardier for the AILE (''Aile Intelligente et Légère pour l’Environnement'', or ''Intelligent and Light Wing for Environment'') research programme. Starting on 1 January 2022, Stelia Aerospace sites worldwide were grouped with other Airbus sites in Nantes and Montoir-de-Bretagne under the newly formed Airbus subsidiary ''Airbus Atlantic''.

Business activities

Stelia Aerospace has three main business segments: * Aerostructures * Premium class

airline seat An airline seat is a seat on an airliner in which passengers are accommodated for the duration of the journey. Such seats are usually arranged in rows running across the airplane's fuselage. A diagram of such seats in an aircraft is called an ...

s (First, Business, Premium Economy) * Pilot seats Stelia Aerospace also manufactures aircraft interiors.

Aerostructures

Stelia Aerospace designs and manufactures fully equipped aircraft fuselage sections from the nose to the rear, wings and special Work Packages such as the main landing gear bay,

A400M The Airbus A400M AtlasNamed after the Greek mythological figure. is a European four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. It was designed by Airbus Military (now Airbus Defence and Space) as a tactical airlifter with strategic ca ...

ramp door, and helicopter tail boom. A major portion of the company's business is the design and manufacturing of aerostructures, including complex detailed parts comprising both composite and metallic materials. STELIA Aerospace claims that it is one of a small number of companies able to provide a fully equipped section (metallic and/or composite fuselage section, with all the tubes and wiring systems integrated), developing the “plug and fly” concept. - Wings of the ATR family, which are fully equipped and tested up to the final test benches.
- Central section of the Bombardier large business jet Global 7000/8000.
- Various sections of the

Airbus A220 The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership. It was originally designed by Bombardier Aerospace, Bombardier and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was ...

, such as the cockpit and aft fuselage.
- Elements of the

Airbus BelugaXL The Airbus BelugaXL (A330-743L) is a large transport aircraft based on the Airbus A330-200F built by Airbus to replace the original Airbus Beluga to move oversized aircraft components, such as wings. The aircraft made its first flight on 19 Jul ...

, including the nose section, cargo door, and upper fuselage with pre-integrated systems (electrical, hydraulic, air conditioning, oxygen, etc.)

Locations

Stelia Aerospace is a global business with 11 worldwide industrial facilities and supporting offices.

References

External links

* * {{Airbus Airbus subsidiaries and divisions Aerospace companies of France Aircraft component manufacturers of France Airliner seating Manufacturing companies based in Toulouse French companies established in 2015 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 2015