The first metal cut for the first series floor beam of the new Airbus A350 XWB was performed at Premium AEROTEC's Augsburg plant today.

The high-speed aluminium-lithium cutting centre had been newly equipped for the purpose, as had many other production facilities and hangars, particularly those for the production and processing of carbon fibre fuselage shells at the Nordenham and Augsburg plants. Premium AEROTEC is the world's largest supplier of fuselage structures for the A350 XWB.

"We are well on track with our A350 production, and will deliver to our largest customer, Airbus, on time and on quality," said Dr. Dieter Meiners, Chief Operating Officer (COO) and head of operations at Premium AEROTEC.

"Premium AEROTEC is once again demonstrating its flexibility and reliability as a strategic tier-1 supplier," added Joachim Nägele, Premium AEROTEC executive management spokesman and head of programmes and sales.

"We are proud to be using state-of-the-art metal-cutting processes at our Augsburg plant yet again, and positioning our company at the forefront of technology in this area too," said plant manager Peter Schwarz on the occasion of the first metal cut.