Seattle, WA, USA--(Jobwerx)--On Wednesday, April 27, weather permitting, the first flight of the A380 in Toulouse, France will take place. The Airbus A380, the largest and most advanced aircraft of its kind, has the capacity to propel 555 human beings up to 8,000 nautical miles at half the speed of sound. The 650-ton magic carpet made of aluminum sheet, plate, forgings, extrusions and castings are joined together by a million fastening, fitting, joining and assembly products.

At key Alcoa locations in the US, Airbus and Alcoa recognize a partnership that is helping get the Airbus A380, world's biggest passenger jet, off the ground.

When it leaves the ground, it will take with it new products and solutions that are settting new standards in the performance of advanced aerospace metallics and fastening systems.

These sophisticated new products are among the one million Alcoa fasteners playing a key role today in assembling the A380. Conceived, developed and manufactured by the Alcoa Aerospace family of businesses, Alcoa is supplying forgings, extrusions, sheet, plate, and castings for the A380’s wing and fuselage skins, stringers, frames, spars, gear ribs, engine and pylon support, seat tracks and floor beams. All of these breakthroughs are the result of close collaboration between Alcoa's aerospace businesses and Airbus's global design team.

The A380 will enter commercial service in 2006 and has been under development at locations throughout the US and Europe since the late 1900s. Airbus spent $6.9 billion alone with US suppliers last year, supporting more than 140,000 US jobs.

Titanium lockbolts from AFS will grip the A380's 119-foot wings

Alcoa’s Fastening Systems business unit has been chosen by Airbus to provide an array of innovative fastening, fitting, joining and assembly solutions for the A380 program. Alcoa Fastening Systems, headquarterd in Torrance, has more than 5500 employees working at 26 locations in seven countries. Torrance is just one of nearly 50 Alcoa locations worldwide that supply solutions for Airbus and other aerospace customers, including Boeing. The latest being long range support for the wing panels produced with Alcoa’s 2324-T39 Type 2 aluminum alloy featured on the longest-range version of Boeing’s 777® airliner.

Alcoa has developed a multi-material lock-bolts for the assembly of the aircraft's wingbox and new-generation blind bolts tailored to meet the A380's advanced robotic assembly techniques.

Airbus A380

The A380 features more new Alcoa metallics and products than any other aircraft in Alcoa's 100-plus years of aerospace history. The products are literally used from nose to tail, from the forward landing gear support structure to forgings for the horizontal and vertical stabilizers.

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Alcoa is one of the world's leading producers of primary aluminium, fabricated aluminium and alumina and is active in all major aspects of the industry. It serves the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation and industrial markets, bringing design, engineering, production and other capabilities of Alcoa's businesses to customers. Photos courtesy of Alcoa.