The ceremony to deliver the first fuselage section of the A321 LR aircraft took place in recent days at the Nola (Naples) production site of Leonardo's Aerostructures Division.
The A321 LR features a new tailgate configuration, which allows its operators to accommodate up to 240 passengers in the largest of Airbus' single-aisle fuselages. The new solution called 'Airspace', developed for the cabin of the Airbus A320 family of aircraft, allows passengers an unprecedented flight experience. Thanks to the increased Maximum Take Off Weight (MTOW) of 97 tons and an Additional Center Fuel Tank (ACT), the range of the aircraft extends to 4.000 nautical miles ( 7.400 km), thus allowing airlines to access new long-haul market opportunities.
The collaboration with Airbus for the A321 program dates back to the 1991, when the agreement was signed for the design and production of the front section of the aircraft fuselage that is shipped from the Leonardo di Nola plant to the French one of Airbus in St. Nazaire, where the assembly of the fuselage components takes place.
The Nola plant started its activity in the 1995 with the production of aerostructures for various programs also with international partners such as Airbus. Employs about 1.000 highly skilled employees. In Nola, machined parts are produced and metal sheets are fabricated and panels are assembled with a high level of integration and industrial automation. The Nola production site, in fact, has been conceived since its design to create aerostructures with a high level of quality and competitiveness. The plant is characterized by a production process whose control is largely managed by a single computerized system whose components are highly integrated with each other. A Nola also produces components of the main aeronautical programs worldwide such as the Eurofighter Typhoon or the Airbus A380, "the giant of the skies".
DEEPENING
Leonardo is among the top ten companies in the world at Aerospace, Defense and Security and the leading Italian industrial company. Since January, 2016 has been operating as a company organized in seven business divisions (Helicopters, Aircrafts, Aerostructures, Aircraft and Space Systems, Defense and Defense Systems, Security Systems and Information Systems), Leonardo competes on most important international markets leveraging its own areas of technological and product leadership. Listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (LDO), 2016 Leonardo recorded consolidated revenues of 12 billion and has a significant industrial presence in Italy, the United Kingdom, the USA and Poland.