~utsche%20Aircraft.jpg?crop=96,0,630,412 "Ground-breaking ceremony for environmentally friendly flying: Deutsche Aircraft heralds a paradigm shift …")
Leipzig (ots)
The Dornier regional aircraft was long considered the Mercedes of the skies – a claim that the more climate-friendly big sister D328eco is also striving for. The aircraft manufacturer Deutsche Aircraft GmbH wants to operate its new short-haul aircraft in a particularly climate-friendly manner. In line with the environmentally friendly aircraft, the final assembly line is now also to become climate-neutral. The consulting company Drees & Sommer SE, which specializes in construction and real estate, accompanies Deutsche Aircraft on an area of 62,000 square meters from the conception through planning to commissioning. The approximately two-year construction phase started with the ground-breaking ceremony on May 16th, which includes not only the production hall but also a new administration building.
Specially developed propellers and engines ensure comparatively low kerosene consumption in the D328eco turboprop machine. In addition, operation with so-called Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) based on hydrogen is also possible – a replacement for conventional kerosene. “In the future, 48 machines per year can roll off the assembly line at the site,” explains Nico Neumann, Chief Operating Officer of Deutsche Aircraft. “We produce one of the most modern and environmentally friendly regional aircraft in the world. Our production facility is also designed for sustainability and climate neutrality. Contributing to this are, for example, the use of solar energy via photovoltaic systems, the heat pumps and the green roof of the production hall.”
New standards in environmentally friendly aviation
For Alexander Mai, who is responsible for the project on the part of Drees & Sommer, the new assembly hall poses particular challenges in the construction process. Long before the first excavators rolled onto the construction site, he and his team attended workshops with Deutsche Aircraft to create an exact requirements profile: “In order to get as detailed a picture of the requirements as possible, we worked with Deutsche Aircraft to draw up the entire production process. From this we developed concepts for the architecture, but also for the structural design and the technical systems,” says Mai. “We rely on so-called integral factory planning, in which building planning works closely with expert teams from production and logistics planning.”
The result: A building structure that reflects all the needs of agile production. In the factory, for example, driverless transport systems move tools and materials and walk with the workers to their tasks. This makes assembly highly flexible. Since there are no rigid conveyor belts, intralogistics can be adapted to changing requirements at any time.
Climate-friendly building materials
In addition to more environmentally friendly air traffic and modern final assembly, Deutsche Aircraft is also relying on other sustainability components for the new administration building. The hybrid wood construction is in no way inferior to conventional reinforced concrete in terms of stability, but is significantly more sustainable. “Wood is a renewable raw material, available locally and has excellent thermal, static and weather-resistant properties,” says Alexander Mai, explaining the advantages of the method. The low construction weight of wood and its low-energy processing also make the hybrid wood construction attractive, since CO2 is saved compared to conventional concrete construction. In addition, wood is particularly easy to prefabricate and thus harmonises perfectly with modular construction. “In this way we can achieve time and cost advantages in planning, production and assembly,” Mai continues. Because: “The more work steps are carried out in advance in the hall, the easier it is for the fitters to work on site. In addition, prefabrication increases the quality of the components, since the individual modules can be produced with millimeter precision.”
In 2026, Deutsche Aircraft wants to start series production of its new short-haul aircraft. To this end, the company is investing 80 million euros in the new location in Leipzig, which will also create space for around 300 new jobs.
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Original content from: Drees & Sommer SE, transmitted by news aktuell