Safran has opened Safran Blades, a titanium compressor blade production site in Marchin, in Belgium’s Liège Province. The 10,000sqm facility is intended to support the group’s industrial expertise in low-pressure compressors, through its Safran Aero Boosters subsidiary.

Safran has integrated automated, AI-driven systems to establish a digital production line that aims to minimise error and environmental impact. By 2026, the site is hoped to employ 150 people and produce one blade every 20 seconds.

Safran Aero Boosters holds a 56 per cent stake, while Wallonie Entreprendre owns 28 per cent and SFPIM 16 per cent. The plant has been named a 2025 “Factory of the Future” by Agoria.

Safran CEO Olivier Andriès says: “Today, with Safran Blades, we are doing much more than just inaugurating a factory. We are gaining a technological, industrial, and environmental head start. This reasserts our intent to control our value chains while developing, alongside our Belgian partners, an aeronautics industry in Europe that is stronger, more innovative and more sustainable.”

Federal finance minister Jan Jambon says: “Relocating the production of compressor blades for aircraft engines to Belgium will strengthen Safran Aero Boosters' technological expertise, while securing the supply chain in the face of geopolitical and economic challenges. The creation of this state-of-the-art plant meets the federal government's desire to reindustrialise the European economic fabric, and Belgium in particular.”

Wallonia’s Minister-President Adrien Dolimont says: “With Safran Blades, Wallonia is confirming its goal of supporting a cutting edge, innovative, sustainable, and sovereign aeronautics industry.” He has allocated an additional €16.3 million subsidy for a new 18-month project phase.

Economy minister Pierre-Yves Jeholet says: “The inauguration of this plant embodies the industrial Wallonia we want: sovereign, sustainable, innovative and rooted in its territory.”

Safran Aero Boosters CEO François Lepot adds: “The financial support being provided by the Walloon region and Belgium is crucial for the creation of projects with high added-value.”

Safran Blades CEO Mathieu Deladrière says: “By establishing the best partnerships in Walloon and Europe, Safran Blades has created a collective dynamic in which robotics is transformed into human added value.”