Alcoa signs multiyear contract with Boeing

The aluminum company Alcoa, based in New York City, has signed a long-term contract to supply aluminum sheet and plate products to the aerospace firm Boeing. Alcoa notes that the contract, valued at more than $1 billion, is the largest ever between the two companies.

“This historic agreement not only continues the 35-year Alcoa-Boeing partnership, it will take our collaboration on next-generation metallic technologies even further,” says Klaus Kleinfeld, Alcoa’s chairman and CEO. “We are proud that Alcoa's lightweight structural solutions will continue to fly on Boeing’s most advanced aircraft today, and that our metallic science leadership will contribute to the Boeing aircraft of tomorrow.”

An Alcoa press release notes that the agreement makes Alcoa the sole supplier to Boeing for wing skins on all of the aerospace giant’s metallic structure airplanes. Alcoa plate products, used in applications such as wing ribs, wing skins or other structural parts of the aircraft, will also be on every Boeing platform, including the 787 Dreamliner.

Finally, the agreement establishes a foundation for continued collaboration on new, high-strength and corrosion-resistant alloys, including aluminum-lithium that could be used for complex structural applications.