Aeronautics sets its sights on diversification

The Compositadour platform is looking to develop thermoplastics and automated draping technologies.

At a time when they might be expected to see a downturn of 40 to 50% in their business activities in 2020, the Basque aeronautical subcontractors are showing their resourcefulness and counting on their know-how and versatility to bounce back. In their own words: 

“We are navigating by sight.” This expression is currently in vogue with the Basque subcontractors in the aeronautics industry. With their economic altimeter no longer working ever since the coronavirus crisis hit with its catastrophic consequences for air traffic, the sector is suspended in line with its principal customers, headed by Airbus, Safran, Dassault, etc.

The aviation support plan announced by the government on 9 June and consisting of 15 billion euros in aid, investment, loans and guarantees, does not calm the fears of unprecedented social damage in the sector. “We would prefer this 15 billion to be used to restart the machine and enable us to obtain orders rather than for subsidies to keep us alive,” says Stéphane Azcué, founder and Head of the Tekniaero company, established on the Technocité science park in Bayonne. This subcontractor specialising in individual parts and sub-assemblies thanks to its production factory for sheet metal, mechanics and assembly, had its burgeoning success rudely interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. “Before the crisis, we were doing really well,” recalls the Director, “we had tripled our staff, our turnover was very good.” Forced to resort to part-time working, the SME saw its staff numbers shrink, from 38 to 25, as it did not renew the contracts of its fixed-term and temporary employees. 

“Reacting quickly and adapting”

“We are concerned but we are still quite optimistic because as a small structure, our strength lies in reacting quickly and adapting,” assures Stéphane Azcué. “We are not afraid of industrialising very large volumes of parts. We are now taking strategic decisions, especially in order to smooth the workload over the months to come. And we did not have to wait for Covid to think of diversifying. For example, we are working with the mechanical engineering company Akira Technologies, also based at Technocité, on a testbed project.”

A few metres away from the Tekniaero factory is another essential player in the aeronautics sector of the Pays Basque, Compositadour. This technological platform specialising in composite materials and robotics and its little brother Addimadour, an expert in additive manufacturing, did not come to a complete halt during lockdown thanks to many of their 40 employees working from home. 

“In space and defence”

“In the middle of lockdown we even won a civil aviation contract with an order from Korea Aerospace Industries,” Francis Sedeilhan, Director of Compositadour, says with pride. Although he forecasts a 50% decrease in R&D business this year, the engineer thinks that “the support announced by the State and by Europe will be directed through ambitious projects for green aviation. We took a clear decision a few years ago to focus on working in thermoplastics,” he adds. “We are going to extend our building by 600 m2 for this purpose. We are also focussing on hydrogen development, where we can play a role in terms of storage. We are also developing technologies for automated draping, which we have succeeded in transferring into the aviation industry and which we are hoping to take into SMEs and into other business sectors such as sport and leisure, sailing, etc. We are fortunate to have the support of the Communauté d’Agglomération Pays Basque for these investments and this effort towards diversification.”

Another heavyweight in aeronautic subcontracting, the Lauak group, has recorded a downturn in activity in the order of 40 to 50% and has set up part-time arrangements for some of its 1800 employees - 700 work on the two Hasparren sites - to cushion the effects of the crisis. Its “group is thinking about restructuring”, but its Director General Mikel Charritton assures us that although its “strategy remains resolutely turned towards aeronautics, it is of course open to all opportunities for diversification, especially space and defence, but it’s a very long process…” 

“Present in several sectors”

Despite the unprecedented crisis in the aviation sector, in Mauléon, Spi Aéro, a subsidiary of the Lopitz group, specialising in the surface treatment and painting of parts for aviation, managed to keep on all of its staff. “We are counting on the flexibility of our 150 employees to adapt to the fluctuations in workload and orders which are constantly evolving,” explains its manager Mathieu Pourrillou, the principal shareholder of Lopitz. “Our group is diversified,” he continues, “with 40% of our business concerning professions outside aviation, where order books have remained at the level they were before the Covid epidemic. Our group strategy is therefore to be present in several sectors through our other subsidiaries: industrial boiler-making for the petrochemical and agribusiness sectors, the manufacture of locks and builders’ metalwork for housing. We going through a difficult period but we are resourceful!”