Spirit AeroSystems launches Airbus A220 assembly program at its site in Morocco

Spirit AeroSystems, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of aerostructures, has launched production of fuselage sections for the Airbus A220 at its North Africa site in Morocco.

Spirit’s Morocco facility recently started producing the aft and forward fuselage sections as well as the keel-beams for the Airbus A220 aircraft, the manufacturer announced in a statement.

“The site has developed expertise in manufacturing a range of components for Bombardier business jets and now joins Spirit global sites already delivering on Airbus commercial programs,” the statement continued.

According to Spirit, which is based in the US, the structures are dispatched from Morocco for assembly at Spirit’s Belfast facility in Northern Ireland.

Morocco’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Ryad Mezzour highlighted that Spirit’s facility, which is located in Midparc, Casablanca’s aerospace industrial park and economic Free Zone, began construction in September 2013.

“Since then, the plant, at the cutting edge of technology specializing in the manufacture of aeronautical parts and structures, has established itself as one of the flagships of the aerospace industry in Morocco,” Mezzour said.

More than 300 employees will support Spirit’s programs at the recently extended 250,000 square-foot manufacturing site, the manufacturer added.

“Spirit’s new program, producing high-tech fuselage sections in Africa for the Airbus A220, following the recent extension of its site, further strengthens the Kingdom’s positioning in complex, high value-added processes, as well as the international influence of our national aeronautics ecosystem,” Mezzour added.