Hutchinson opens a European service center near Toulouse
After the opening this summer of the European headquarters of the Californian company Universal Hydrogen, it is Hutchinson’s turn to take up residence on land belonging to Toulouse-Blagnac airport, in the heart of the airport zone.
A hundred-year-old group acquired in the 1970s by TotalEnergies, Hutchinson has decided to set up its European service center near Toulouse. It is in addition to the airline service centers already present in Los Angeles, Shanghai and Singapore.
A series of acquisitions in the Toulouse region
The 3,000 m2 building will accommodate 80 employees and will allow the group to bring together in a single building the companies acquired in recent years in the Toulouse region.
” It is from the historic establishment of Barry Controls (a company specializing in the manufacture of soundproofing equipment, anti-vibration of aircraft engines) bought by Hutchinson in the 2000s and present in Blagnac that this building saw the day . This building also includes Composite Industries, a company that has been deployed north of Toulouse until now, the German company Kaefer, which specializes in the installation of all thermal and acoustic insulation for aircraft, and PFW, which until now had a design office on Airbus premises. This consolidation under the same Hutchinson brand brings synergy to the heart of the Airbus ecosystem »explains Norbert Langlois, director of the after-sales division of Hutchinson Aerospace.
Before completing: We also took the opportunity to bring together in this building our sales representatives based locally in Toulouse and who work with all the major clients. And then, given the announced increase in after-sales activity in Europe, this center is an opportunity to expand our premises dedicated to the repair and distribution of spare parts.”
Airbus announced this week that it expects the services market to double by 2041, with in particular the explosion in demand for maintenance and repair with the entry into service of nearly 40,000 new aircraft in the next twenty years.
Safran Leap engine and A220
Hutchinson’s Toulouse teams will be busy over the next few years, particularly on the delivery of equipment for the A220, a program acquired from Bombardier by Airbus. The group has also won repair contracts for certain components of Safran’s Leap engine.
Fluorescent penetrant inspection of A400M engine mounting pins. (Credits: Hutchinson – Sophie Stacino)
Beyond the design office and premises for sales representatives, Hutchinson will have a repair workshop and a distribution center for spare aeronautical parts withcleaning booths and non-destructive testing centers.
Hutchinson achieved a turnover of 3.9 billion euros in 2021 and employs 38,000 people in 25 countries. Its aeronautical division alone weighs 1 billion euros.