Aeronautics

The AUVERGNE IS PART OF THE TOP 5 OF THE REGIONS IN FRENCH AIRCRAFT.

The aeronautics industry has flourished and developed simultaneously under the patronage of the Michelin brothers.

Today, the sector is centred around two key activities : upstream, around the production of various materials, aluminium, special alloys, composites, and downstream around maintenance activities.

Auvergne's aeronautics industry employs over 13,000 people across one hundred or so companies which have developed expertise sought after by the big European and American stake-holders.

European-scale companies

Key national groups have established production sites in the Auvergne and have made significant investment in the region. The majority of the big-sized companies of the region are involved inlarge-scale European programmes such as those relating to the A380, the A350 XWB, the new generation A320, the A400 M and the Falcon F7X. This is the case for Michelin, Aubert & Duval (supplier to Airbus, Bombardier, Embraer, Boeing) or even Safran/Sagem, leader in UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) technologies. The SMEs-SMIs also work with key stake-holders such as the likes of Airbus, Dassault or Eurocopter. Their annual turnover is approximately 2.1 billion euros and they are established in all the sectors of the aircraft and space market: military fighter and transport aircraft, commercial small, medium and jumbo aircraft and also helicopters, drones, missiles, launchers and satellites.

A fast growing maintenance sector

The many areas of excellence in the Auvergne in terms of aeronautics maintenance make an ideal framework for the usual range of maintenance operations and also for the overhall and maintenance of the fleets of national and European airlines. With almost 2,000 employees, these activities cater for both civil and military sectors and are growing strongly.

Training and research

With guaranteeing businesses skilled labour in mind, the Auvergne region has efficient training centres and schools specialised in aircraft: IFMA (French institute for advanced mechanical engineering) , ISIMA (French graduate engineering school focused on computing and its applications), Polytech' (Institute of engineering sciences), ENSCCF (Clermont-Ferrand’s Superior National School of Chemistry).

The Region has developed a training cluster dedicated to the aeronautics tradeswhich encompasses all existing training services, work placements and job offers : AERIA

In parallel, Auvergne benefits from the expertise of private research centres of worldwide renown with the laboratories of companies such as Michelin, Constellium, Aubert et Duval, Safran, NSE …

An aeronautics cluster : AVIA

AVIA comprises some 50 aeronautics companies in the Auvergne and theMassif Central regions. Its aimis to ensure the promotion of their know-how to key clients and to combine their resources.

Infrastructures

Finally, the region has set up infrastructures to match its ambitions:Clermont-Ferrand/Auvergne international airport has connections to 20 French and European destinations with a turnover of approximately 600,000 passengers per year. An industrial estate located on the airport platform of Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne, the Zone Industrielle Aéronautique Sud, is dedicated to aircraft sub-contracting companies and accommodates an aircraft cluster of over 2,000 employees.

An international business convention

The Regional Economic Development Agency is the organizer of a major event : Aeroliance. It permits business meeting between prime contractors and subcontractors in the aerospace industry. The last edition was hosted at the Grande Halle d'Auvergne and welcomed a thousand og participants from 31 countries.

The aronautics sector continues expansion its expansion. For example, Regional, a subsidiary of Air France, plans to expand new facilities of 13,500 m² and a recent aviation cluster is born : Aero Support.

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