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Spirit Breaks Ground on New French Plant
By: Gregory Polek
Caption: Spirit AeroSystems yesterday broke ground on a new 57,888-sq-ft facility in Saint-Nazaire, France, where it plans to receive and assemble the composite cen
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Spirit AeroSystems yesterday broke ground on a new 57,888-sq-ft facility in Saint-Nazaire, France, where it plans to receive and assemble the composite center fuselage frame sections for the Airbus A350XWB from Kinston, N.C., site of another new plant under construction since last September.The company will ship sections designed and manufactured in North Carolina across the Atlantic, to Saint-Nazaire before transporting the assembled components to Airbus as Section 15.“Today’s groundbreaking ceremony significantly highlights Spirit’s global scope,” said Dan Wheeler, vice president and general manager of Sprit’s North Carolina business unit. Spirit won a contract with Airbus in May 2008 to design and produce the A350XWB’s 9,000-pound composite center fuselage structure, which will measure some 65 feet in length and 20 feet in width. The company also will produce the front spars for the aircraft’s wings at the Kinston plant, scheduled to go into operation by the middle of next year.