The Plant for € 15 Million, which will make Parts for Airbus Aircraft near Plovdiv

If you recently travelled with a plane made by the European manufacturer Airbus, it's very likely that the doors you've entered through have been produced by another French giant in the airline industry - Latecoere. After a while, somewhat surprisingly, some of these doors will be produced in Bulgaria, as on Wednesday the company opened its own factory in the industrial zone near Plovdiv.

The project was announced last year, after which the Bulgarian subsidiary Latecoere Bulgaria was founded. It then became clear that 15 million euros will be invested in the base by 2020. At the moment, the first phase of the project, which covers an area of ​​5,000 square meters, is underway and in 2019 the second stage will be completed, adding another 4,000 square meters.

At first, the Bulgarian factory will assemble electric cabinets for Airbus, and after time parts for doors. They will be for the A350 and A380 models. The plans include, in time, the Airbus Military - A400M, which is a military transport aircraft. The European aviation industry leader is number one customer of Latecoere, with about 60% of the production produced by the group being for them. The company is also a supplier for the competitor Boeing, as well as Embraer and Dessault Aviation.

What are the plans of Latecoere in Bulgaria?

"In the year 2019, the second phase of the project must be completed, as today we have the capacity to produce these cabinets for airplanes, but we would like to develop other products in Bulgaria, as well as parts for doors, the idea being to make the skeleton for as well as opening and closing mechanisms, explained Ollivier Quéruell, the Director Latecoere Bulgaria.

"It is specific to the plant in Plovdiv that it is engaged in assembling, assembling...