Story ID: 062cCatherineauAINApril2012.doc
Catherineau Carves Niche in Aircraft Interiors
By: AIN Staff
Caption: 
Word Count: 196
In business since 1750, family owned and operated Catherineau has been in the aircraft completions game for only 50 years. That is a relatively short chapter in the Catherineau history but nevertheless not insignificant, considering that business aviation was only just coming into its own 50 years ago. In 1750, and for centuries thereafter, Catherineau built fine furniture. Today, the company is focused on providing interior components for yachts and executive aircraft and has carved out an impressive niche for itself, working with OEMs such as Airbus, Dassault, Eurocopter and Daher-Socata. “We do bulkheads, tables, beds, every type of cabinetry appearing in an aircraft cabin,” said director Anne-Sophie Catherineau. In fact, Catherineau does the entire TBM 850 interior for Daher-Socata.

Despite the recent recession and slow recovery, the company has continued to grow and recently doubled its floor space, moving into a new 43,055-sq-ft facility. The staff is currently nudging 90 people and Catherineau expects that figure to grow to 115 by 2014. “We were fortunate that when the recession began, most of our customers had a lot of backlog, much of it two or three years, and even this year we have lots of work,” she said.