You know that in the aviation business security and demand are the most important assets of a company. That starts from the very beginning of aircraft building and goes on during the life of an aircraft with high quality maintenance.Well, you can find it all in Portugal. Major aircraft manufacturers already did. Airbus relies on Portuguese expertise in very sensitive issues like sensors. Airbus A380 is built with optic fiber sensors manufactured in Portugal. You also know how comfort can be decisive on passenger’s opinion about an airline. Airbus is relying on Portuguese cork to take care of that issue and keep customers happy. Cork has an outstanding thermal and acoustic isolation capacity and Portugal is a leading supplier.
From electric switchboards to Airbus 340 to helicopter tails or even structural components for Airbus A320, A330 and A340 and Embraer 145, 170 and 190 airliners and also components for fighters, a wide range of aircraft components are manufactured in Portugal. Others can begin to be manufactured like moulds where our country is internationally recognized.
Portuguese expertise in aeronautical industry includes also high tech management systems. You know, or you can guess, how expensive aircraft parts can be but also how essential they are to keep an aircraft in good shape. The best commitment would be to have those parts “just in time”. That’s why management systems are being developed in Portugal to suite this need collecting information on aircraft components status in order to anticipate when it will need intervention allowing a better fleet planning.
With all this expertise available it’s not surprising that the third largest aircraft manufacturer, Embraer, is coming to Portugal to install a 148 million euro project in Évora that will start operating in the beginning of 2012. Évora is a city in the heart of Alentejo to keep under eye. It will be the base of an aeronautical cluster that is emerging in our country. A key project may turn out to be the KC-390 program to build a military transport aircraft that may involve about 16 Portuguese suppliers. It will be the kick-off on a new stage in the industry in Portugal that is, already, internationally recognized in the aircraft maintenance field by having top-level standards and full-service expertise. Not only in airliners but also in military aircrafts. Major airlines and worldwide Air Forces trust their million euro jets to Portuguese maintenance.
Portugal also manufactures high tech or value for money light aircrafts for your pleasure or business.