Teijin to Supply Carbon Fiber Composite to Airbus

Teijin will supply carbon fiber composite material to European planemaker Airbus from fiscal 2011, the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday.

Teijin, a synthetic textile maker, has signed a 15-year deal with Airbus parent EADS, and will supply the material for Airbus's multiple aircraft models, including the "A350XWB" midsize passenger plane due to be introduced in 2012, the Nikkei said. The composite will be used to make the plane's fuselage, the paper said, adding because the composite material is as strong as steel, but weighs only half as much, it is expected to sharply boost the fuel economy of an aircraft.

Teijin will also consider building a new factory in Europe to make it an output base for shipment to Airbus and aims for several 10 of billions of yen in sales of carbon fibres and composites for aircraft in a few years, raising the figure to 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) in 2025, the paper said.

Japan's Toray Industries and U.S. firms Hexcel and Cytec Industries currently monopolize the global market for the composite material, and Teijin's entry is expected to intensify competition, the newspaper said.

(6/28/2010)