Reuters
by Aziz El Yaakoubi
Stelia Aerospace, a maker of commercial aircraft structures and components, is launching a production facility in Morocco this week, a Moroccan government source said.
Stelia, formed this year from the merger of Airbus subsidiaries Aerolia and Sogerma, makes business and first-class seats, large aircraft structures and equipment.
It is investing more than 410 million Moroccan dirham ($40.81 million) in a plant at Nouaceur, where Casablanca’s airport is located, which will make “complex sets” for Airbus planes, the source said.
“It is just the first part. The plant is expected to expand in the coming few years,” said the source, who declined to be identified because the official launch is expected on Dec. 2 by officials from the government and company.
It will be the second Moroccan plant for the European company which already a facility in the same region and will have a workforce of around 400.
Unlike many countries in the region, Morocco managed to avoid a big drop in foreign direct investment in the wake of the global financial crisis and the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.
It has attracted a number of large auto and aerospace investors in recent years, including Delphi, Bombardier and Eaton Corp.
($1 = 10.0460 Moroccan dirham) (Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; editing by Jason Neely)
