A breath of fresh air for the Laer bell, a company that builds large components for civil aeronautics. It has in fact signed a contract – for a contract worth 100 million – with Iai, a leading Israeli company in the sector, specializing in the conversion of aircraft from civilian to cargo.
And it is precisely this type of conversions that the Benevento company based in Airola will have to deal with, between now and the next four years, creating all the components necessary to modify the structure of about 70 Boeing 777-300Ersf units: half fuselage, separation from the cockpit, reinforced floor and much more. The first delivery is expected in January 2023.
The product will be manufactured for Iai (Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd) Aviation Group, the main Israeli aeronautical industry, also a world leader in the cargo transformation of passenger aircraft.
The Campania aeronautical center in suffering
The signing of the new contract has brought a breath of optimism to the Laer plants and beyond. The entire Campania aeronautical hub is suffering from a serious crisis caused by the long pandemic: orders for new aircraft from airlines are still falling, the Leonardo group started a 13-week layoff period on 3 January involving 3,443 employees of the factories in Pomigliano, Nola, Grottaglie and Foggia. Leonardo reassured that “there has never been a disengagement from the aerostructures business“. The Campania center, after suffering losses in turnover of the order of 80% in 2020 and 60% in 2021, still sees 2022 with many worries.
And it is a district with very significant numbers. In Campania there are about one hundred companies with 10 thousand employees and with an induced that touches 40 thousand. These operate mainly in the civil aeronautics sector (equal to 22% of the total Italian production) which is the most affected by the crisis. For these reasons, Campania suffers more than other regions.
A problematic two-year period for Laer …
2020 and 2021 were also very difficult years for Laer. «In the period 2020-21 we lost 60% of our turnover – said Andrea Esposito, sole director of Laer a month ago – from 2020 onwards we have suffered numerous order cuts by Leonardo who is our main customer. Today we have 300 employees, of which about one hundred are on layoffs ».