Business

Friday October 23, 2009

Firm to deliver first carbon fibre composite aircraft in mid-2020

By DAVID TAN


GEORGE TOWN: Spirit Aerosystems Inc expects to deliver the first fleet of carbon fibre composite material single-aisle aircraft around mid-2020.

Its design engineer Kevin Brauning told StarBiz there were now about 8,000 single-aisle aircraft made of aluminium material waiting to be replaced.

An aluminium single-aisle aircraft is currently priced around US$60mil.

Kevin Brauning ... ‘We have launched a programme to source for the best wing designs.’

“It is a huge market and that is why Spirit Aerosystems aims to be among the first to deliver carbon fibre composite material single-aisle aircraft.

“To start this journey, we have launched the Global Design Challenge 2009 programme to source for the best wing designs from the best brains of aerospace engineering students around the globe,” Brauning said yesterday.

He said this after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) deputy-vice chancellor (industrial network and community) Prof Lim Koon Ong.

USM is one of the universities, besides University of Manchester, and Wichita State University, that have sent a team, comprising six aerospace engineering students, to take part in the Global Design Challenge 2009 programme.

The USM students will submit their designs by December, and the winning design will be announced in January.

The MoU allows Spirit Aerosystems to use the intellectual property of the students should it decide to in the future.

The trend of replacing aircraft made from metal with composite material started about a decade ago with twin-aisle aircraft.

“Composite material-made aircraft may cost more to purchase but they are cheaper to maintain as they consume less oil, as composite material weigh less,” Brauning said.

Spirit Aerosystems’ 242,000-sq-ft facility in Subang assembles wing components for Airbus.

“We source composite and metal components for the wings from small and medium industries in Malaysia,” Brauning said.

Spirit Aerosystems, headquartered in Wichita, is the world’s largest independent supplier of commercial airplane assemblies and components.

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