Alcoa to provide Airbus with multimaterial fastening systems

Alcoa will supply primarily titanium, steel and nickel-based superalloy fastening systems for every Airbus platform.


Alcoa, headquartered in New York and Pittsburgh, has signed contract valued at approximately $1 billion with Airbus to provide high-tech, multimaterial aerospace fastening systems, according to the company. The deal is Alcoa’s largest fastener contract ever with the aircraft manufacturer. Alcoa says its fasteners fly on every Airbus platform.

“Our growing aerospace capabilities, technology strength and global, first-rate customer service continue to strengthen Alcoa’s decades-long partnership with Airbus,” says Alcoa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld. “Alcoa is proud to partner with Airbus to provide breakthrough technologies for some of the most advanced aircraft in the world.”

Alcoa’s fasteners will be used to assemble some of Airbus’s latest high-growth airplanes, including the A350 XWB, Airbus’ newest commercial airplane, and the A320neo. In addition, Airbus will use Alcoa’s fastening systems for longer-running platforms, including the A330, according to Alcoa.

As part of this agreement, Alcoa says it will supply advanced fastening systems, such as those that enhance the assembly of aircraft panels and engine pylons on newer airplanes with sophisticated design features.

Alcoa’s fasteners are made using a variety of materials, including stainless steel, titanium and nickel-based superalloys, which improve fatigue life, enable lightning strike protection and improve wear and reusability on conventional and composite aircraft, the company says. Alcoa will produce these fastening systems at 14 of its global manufacturing facilities.

Alcoa acquired global titanium company RTI International Metals, aerospace components manufacturer TITAL and global jet engine parts leader Firth Rixson in an effort to grow its aerospace business. Alcoa also has grown organically. It opened the world’s largest aluminum-lithium facility in Lafayette, Indiana, launched expansions to increase jet engine parts production in La Porte, Indiana, and Hampton, Virginia, began installation of advanced aerospace plate manufacturing capabilities in Davenport, Iowa, announced plans to double its coatings capabilities for jet engine components in Whitehall, Michigan, and announced an investment in technology that strengthens the metallic structures of traditional and additive manufactured parts, also in Whitehall.

Alcoa Fastening Systems & Rings, a business unit of Alcoa, is a leading worldwide designer and manufacturer of fastening systems and rings, including specialty fasteners, fluid fittings, assembly components, installation systems and seamless rings for aerospace and industrial applications. Headquartered in Torrance, California, the company has more than 8,700 employees at 39 manufacturing and distribution/logistics locations in 13 countries. 

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