Demand for the Airbus A220 and the Bombardier Global 7500 is generating positive spinoffs in the Quebec ecosystem. A subsidiary of the European aircraft manufacturer is looking for 200 employees not only to meet the needs of its customers, but also to ensure that its own suppliers are able to keep pace.
Established in Mirabel since 2014, Stelia is now adopting the name Airbus Atlantic to better reflect its integration with Airbus, its owner. The change of name will be formalized this Friday and coincides with the deployment of a recruitment campaign. In the Laurentians, some 600 employees are building the cockpit of the A220 – Bombardier’s former C Series – and part of the fuselage of the Quebec multinational’s Global 7500 business jet.
Like many companies in the Quebec aeronautics industry, Airbus Atlantic needs arms in several spheres (administration, production plant, management, etc.). But in a context where supply difficulties are causing failures for some aircraft manufacturers, a few recruits will have the role of “accompanying external suppliers”, explains the president and CEO of Airbus Atlantic, Cédric Gauthier, in an interview. with The Press.
“As a first-tier supplier, we have a strike force,” he explains. We can help our suppliers to write down the challenges they face and then support them and find solutions to improve things. We have already sent teams to help them on specific files. »
Demand is strong at the Mirabel plant. We must supply the Airbus A220 program, which is increasing its production rate with the aim of producing 14 aircraft monthly by 2025, as well as that of the Global 7500 from Bombardier, which is delivering more and more copies of this private jet to 75 million US.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY AIRBUS ATLANTIC
Cédric Gauthier, Chairman and CEO of Airbus Atlantic
We will not be able to achieve production growth without a network of suppliers who support us on an ad hoc basis. We must accompany them because our own health depends on it.
Cédric Gauthier, Chairman and CEO of Airbus Atlantic
Open to more customers
Worldwide, Airbus Atlantic – an entity created in 2022 – also acts as a supplier for companies such as Dassault Aviation and Dassault.
In Quebec, the president and CEO of the group does not close the door to the possibility of expanding the pool of customers of the Mirabel plant. It will first be necessary to meet the needs of Airbus and Bombardier, he takes care to add.
In the next two years, we will focus on these two programs [A220 et Global 7500]. But in the long term, yes, the Mirabel site basically has the capacity to work on other programs. We have the vocation to be multi-program and to serve several customers.
Cedric Gauthier
It remains to be seen whether the company formerly known as Stelia will hit its recruiting targets. After the tremors caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there are vacancies throughout the aerospace cluster. Airbus Canada announced last February that it wanted to hire more than 700 people this year. At Bombardier, we want to fill 400 positions. Added to this are the needs of other well-known players such as Pratt & Whitney Canada and other suppliers.
Airbus Atlantic therefore finds itself competing with its owner.
“It’s something we’re used to,” replies Mr. Gauthier, when asked about the issue. We work together, for example by organizing joint job fairs. Airbus needs Airbus Atlantic to be able to recruit. Without a fuselage, the ramp-up cannot take place. »
According to Aéro Montréal, there will be some 38,000 positions to fill in the sector by the end of the decade. In two years, there should be a shortage in “more than 30 categories of positions”, such as machinists and programmers, underlines the organization which represents the Quebec aerospace cluster.
Learn more
-
- 5
- Number of countries where Airbus Atlantic is present in the world
Source: Airbus atlantic
