Photo by: Alcoa
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – NYSE-listed aluminium and downstream products producer Alcoa on Thursday announced that it had struck a billion-dollar long-term accord with the world’s largest aerospace company Boeing to supply aluminium sheet and plate products.
Alcoa, which had supplied Boeing for decades, said that the contract was the largest ever between the two partners.
“This historic agreement not only continues the 35-year Alcoa-Boeing partnership, it will take our collaboration on next-generation metallic technologies even further,” Alcoa chairperson and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said.
The agreement made Alcoa the sole supplier to Boeing for wing skins on all of its metallic structure airplanes. Alcoa plate products, used in applications such as wing ribs, wing skins or other structural parts of the aircraft, will also be on every Boeing platform, including the 787 Dreamliner.
The New York-headquartered Alcoa had in recent years been focused on transforming its portfolio, which, in recent months, saw the largest US aluminium producer make a string of significant investments in its downstream specialist manufacturing business segments, strategically building out these manufacturing capabilities to generate increased revenues in the face of low primary-aluminium prices.
In June, Alcoa announced a $2.85-billion deal to buy jet engine part maker Firth Rixson.
Alcoa said the agreement “established a foundation for continued collaboration on new, high-strength and corrosion-resistant alloys, including aluminium-lithium that could be used for complex structural applications.”
Alcoa also on Thursday reported that it had for the thirteenth consecutive year been recognised as the aluminium industry leader on the Dow Jones World Index.