Airbus, TAI Renew Subcontracting Agreement (July 22)
The extension of an important supplier contract was signed today at the Farnborough Airshow between Turkish Aerospace Industry (TAI) and Airbus in the presence of Mr Murad Bayar, Undersecretary for Turkish Defense Industry, Mr. Hasan Peker Gunal, TAI Chairman, Mr Oktay Tezsezen, TAI General Manager, Mr. Peter Kloepfer, Senior Vice President Airframe Procurement Airbus and Mr Manuel Hita-Romero, General Manager Airbus Spain.
Due to the excellent performance in terms of quality and delivery, Airbus decided to extend this successful working relationship that started originally in 1998 with a first contract for 200 deliveries of shells for the rear fuselage for the A320 family of Airbus. With this first contract ending in July 2004, the extension of the contract now concerns the manufacturing of 300 deliveries and allows for TAI to procure the material.
The A320 Family of Airbus is a highly successful family with over 3100 aircraft firmly ordered at end of June 2004 and over 2200 delivered world-wide, showing a clear market dominance of 52 % order share since the launch of the competitive 737NG in November 1993. The A320 Family includes four family members, the A318, the A319, the A320 and the A321.
“The rear fuselage shells are primary structure components that require a high level of manufacturing technology and TAI has been able to fully fulfil our requirements” said Mr Peter Kloepfer, “We are very satisfied with the quality of the product and in addition TAI has been very strong on keeping the deadlines and delivery timings, key criteria in our supplier chain.” Mr Manuel Hita-Romero added “our excellent working relation with TAI helps us to make our production process as efficient as possible and contributes to our success in maintaining our qualitative objectives and delivery rates as guaranteed to our customers.”
The relationship between TAI and Airbus is proving to be most valuable to both sides, whereby the total value of the supplier contract with TAI now reaches 68 million US$, including the first contract, and provides jobs for at least 200 Turkish employees secured for the coming years.
Mr Oktay Tezsezen, TAI General Manager, said “TAI is proud to have contributed in the past and to continue to contribute significantly to the A320 Family programme as well as other Airbus programmes. This collaboration clearly shows that the Turkish Aerospace Industry meets the extremely stringent requirements of the aviation industry and Airbus in particular both in terms of know-how and quality in this international competitive environment. This will certainly continue to benefit the Turkish economy both in terms of revenues and employment, especially looking at the development in the coming years.”
Simultaneously, Airbus is very pleased with the close partnership it has built with Turkish carriers, whether scheduled, charter or cargo carriers. THY Turkish Airlines, which in 1984 became one of the European aircraft manufacturer’s earliest customers with the A310, was also one of the first customers and operators of Airbus’ four-engine ultra-long range A340 in 1993 and currently flies seven wide-body A340s in addition to five A310s.
Other Airbus operators in Turkey include Onur Air, which became the world’s first charter operator of the A321 in 1996 and now flies ten Airbus A320 Family aircraft and nine A300s, Flyair with eight A300s, low-cost airline Freebird (two A320 aircraft) and Cyprus Turkish Airlines with two A310 and three A320 aircraft. In the freight area, MNG Airlines Cargo flies with seven A300’s cargo versions.
Airbus is a leading aircraft manufacturer with the most modern and comprehensive family of aircraft on the market, ranging in capacity from 100 to more than 500 seats. With outstanding deliveries of over 1393 aircraft (backlog) at end of June 2004, Airbus has the largest backlog of the aircraft industry in the world and currently is the market leader in the aviation industry of civil aircraft of 100 seats and more.
With an annual turnover of 19.2 billion Euros in 2003, Airbus is a global company, employing some nearly 50,000 people of many different nationalities in design and manufacturing facilities in France, Germany, the UK and Spain, as well as subsidiaries in the U.S., China and Japan. Headquartered in Toulouse, France, Airbus is an EADS joint Company with BAE Systems.
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Turkish Aerospace Industry (TAI) and Airbus: Renewal of a Long Lasting and Successful Working Relationship
