June 29 2021  |  Seating

STELIA Aerospace delivers the first A321XLR elements assembled on its sites in Méaulte and Rochefort

By Jane Hobson

STELIA Aerospace is in charge of the design, manufacturing and assembly of all the sections of the front fuselage of the A321XLR

STELIA Aerospace has announced the delivery to Airbus of the first fuselage sections it has been assigned for the A321XLR program, the new member of the Airbus single-aisle family. STELIA Aerospace is in charge of the design, manufacturing and assembly of all the sections of the front fuselage.

The Méaulte and Rochefort sites have each delivered three of the six sections of the fuselage. The delivery materializes work carried out since 2019 by many STELIA Aerospace sites and subsidiaries: Toulouse and Rochefort for design and development; Saint-Nazaire, STELIA Tunisia and ACAM (Morocco) for the production of elementary parts and equipped sub-assemblies; Méaulte and Rochefort for the final assembly of the sections.

The A321XLR requires modifications on all sections of the front fuselage with reference to the previous versions, regarding the structure and the equipment support. STELIA Aerospace offers modernized production lines with robotization, augmented reality and digitalization.

STELIA announced the launch of its OPERA seat in October, destined for the A320 family ‘Airspace’ cabin, which includes the A321XLR. It enables a modular Business Class type configuration, with a level of comfort equivalent to that of a wide-body on a single-aisle.

"In the name of STELIA Aerospace, I am very happy and proud to have delivered today, according to schedule, our first elements for the A321XLR, the latest member of the Airbus single-aisle family, which will be a real game-changer on the long-range market," said Cédric Gautier, CEO of STELIA Aerospace. "We have successfully completed the challenge of delivering in extremely short lead times."

With first deliveries planned in 2023, the A321XLR boasts a range of 8,700 km, 30 percent more than the A321neo. The A321XLR can perform flights of more than 10 hours, and can offer routes such as Rome-New York or London-Delhi.

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