| Stelia Aerospace | |
| Type: | Société par actions simplifiée |
| Founded: | 1 January 2015 |
| Area Served: | Worldwide |
| Key People: | Cédric Gautier, CEO [1] |
| Industry: | Aeronautics |
| Services: | Aerostructures, Airline seats |
| Revenue Year: | €2.2 Billion (2017) |
| Num Employees: | 7,000 (as at 2019)[2] |
| Parent: | Airbus |
| Former Name: | Aerolia / Sogerma |
| Hq Location City: | Toulouse |
| Hq Location Country: | France |
Stelia Aerospace (stylized STELIA Aerospace) is an aerospace company headquartered in Toulouse, France.[3] It specializes in designing and manufacture of aerostructures, pilot seats and premium class passenger seats, mainly for the commercial aviation sector.
Stelia Aerospace was created on 1 January 2015 by the merger of two Airbus business units: Aerolia and SOGERMA. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Airbus.
Stelia Aerospace traces its origins to the merger 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.[4]
Prior to its restructuring in 2006, the company largely focused on maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO),[5] [6] but subsequently directed its resources to its specialist aerostructures and seating activities.[7]
Aerolia SA was founded on 1 January 2009 as a spin-off of Airbus France's aerostructures activities.[8] [9] This involved the Méaulte and Saint-Nazaire industrial plants, along with a design office in Toulouse.[10]
In 2007, EADS' management decided to respond to the weakening US dollar and large investments required for the Airbus A380 and A350 XWB programs by restructuring in order to streamline, divest several non-core activities, and cut costs.[11] [12] Aerospace periodical Flight International compared the move to Boeing's then-recent spin-off of Spirit AeroSystems.[13]
On 1 January 2015, Stelia Aerospace was created via the merger of Aerolia and Sogerma.[14] At the time, Stelia Aerospace employed roughly 6,100 staff across 11 different locations, and the two merged businesses were considered "complementary".[15] Contracts previously undertaken by the two firms carried over to the new entity, including those for fitting-out work on Airbus airliners.[16]
In March 2017, Stelia Aerospace inaugurated a new aeronautics factory in Méaulte, Northern France; this facility, which handles production of the forward fuselages of Airbus airliners and central fuselage of Bombardier Aerospace’s Global 7500 series of business jets, had required a €70 million investment.[17] In February 2018, Stelia Aerospace demonstrated a metallic fuselage panel manufactured using 3D printing techniques.[18] [19] The same year, the firm acquired a majority share of Toulouse-based digital modelling specialist Portalliance Engineering.[20]
In October 2019, Stelia Aerospace announced plans to build a new assembly plant in Portugal at a cost of €40 million.[21] 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.[22]
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.[23]
Stelia Aerospace has three main business segments:
Stelia Aerospace also manufactures aircraft interiors.
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 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.
Aircraft components manufactured by Stelia Aerospace include:
Stelia Aerospace is a global business with 11 worldwide industrial facilities and supporting offices.
| Location | Country / Region | Facility type | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toulouse | France | Industrial | Headquarter functions and core-engineering | |
| Méaulte | France | Industrial | Nose assembly and large composite | |
| Rochefort | France | Industrial | Section assembly and seats | |
| Saint-Nazaire | France | Industrial | Detailed parts | |
| Mérignac | France | Industrial | Wings | |
| Salaunes | France | Industrial | Composite detailed parts | |
| M Ghira | Tunisia | Industrial | Detailed parts and assembly | |
| Casablanca | Morocco | Industrial | Composite detailed parts and assembly | |
| Lunenburg, Nova Scotia | Canada | Industrial | Composite detailed parts | |
| Mirabel, Quebec | Canada | Industrial | Section assembly | |
| Hamburg | Germany | Support office | Airbus Final Assembly Lines support | |
| Bangkok | Thailand | Support office | Commercial offices | |
| Seattle | USA | Support office | Commercial offices | |
| Los Angeles | USA | Support office | Commercial offices | |
| Miami | USA | Support office | Commercial offices, and airline support | |
| United Arab Emirates | United Arab Emirates | Support office | Airline support | |
| Singapore | Singapore | Support office | Airline support | |
| Beijing | China | Support office | Airline support |