Aeronautics industry supplier Fischer Advanced Composite Components (FACC, Ried / Austria; www.facc.co.at) will expand its production capacity considerably during 2006. The company plans to spend some EUR 40m on construction of a fourth production plant, to be built next to the existing one at Reichersberg / Austria. Construction of the new 14,000 m² facility, which in the first phase will employ 250 people and later 350, was due to begin this month. Production is scheduled to commence in February 2007.

The focus will be on developing airplane fuselage fairing and components for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, for which FACC has received a USD 300m order extending over 20 years from the Aerostructures division of US airplane engine supplier Goodrich (www.goodrich.com), based at Chula Vista, California. To finance the required development investment for Goodrich and Airbus (landing flap parts and interior components for the A380), totalling EUR 60m, FACC raised bonds worth EUR 20m at the end of 2005. This is the company´s second bond issue in two years.

Managing director Walter Stephan wants to profit from the trend towards the greater use of composite materials in aircraft construction. He calculates that components supplied from Austria will account for 2% of the total value of the Dreamliner. The company´s input accounted for only 1% of previous models. About half of the materials used in the new airplane will be composites. Stephan is confident that FACC will receive more orders – for wing parts for the 787, for example. In 2004, orders from Boeing and its partners accounted for half of the company´s sales of around EUR 123.8m.