EUR42.5M will be Invested in Issoire and Voreppe Sites (France).

Alcan Global Aerospace, Transportation and Industry (Alcan Global ATI), a business unit of Alcan Engineered Products (Rio Tinto Group) announces the launch of AIRWARE(TM), tomorrow's aircraft technology. AIRWARE(TM) is a comprehensive offer of complementary and high-performance Low Density Alloys, best suited to feature in all parts of the aircraft primary structure. AIRWARE(TM) represents a unique solution to the current challenges aircraft manufacturers are facing, allowing them to combine weight reduction with lower assembly and maintenance costs, and reduction of the overall environmental print.

Alcan Global ATI's goal is to make AIRWARE(TM) the solution of choice for major future aerospace programs. EUR42.5 million will be therefore invested in the production site at Issoire and the R&D center at Voreppe, both located in France. While Issoire will be equipped with the very first industrial casthouse in the world capable to produce advanced Low Density Alloys (aluminum-lithium), the Voreppe R&D center's one will focus on developing new applications.

"With AIRWARE(TM), we turn a new page in the aerospace industry. By offering manufacturers a solution to lighten aircraft structures, cut assembly and maintenance costs while benefiting from aluminum infinite recyclability, we are demonstrating our commitment to innovate and meet our customers' needs", said Christophe Villemin, Alcan Global ATI President.

AIRWARE(TM)'s high technological content and value added make it perfectly suited for optimizing aircraft production processes. The use of Alcan advanced welding techniques combined with the introduction of recycling systems boosts AIRWARE(TM)'s performance, thereby increasing the aerospace industry's efficiency and reducing its overall environmental footprint. AIRWARE(TM) is 100% recyclable, can deliver 20% weight reductions for aircraft primary parts and guarantees longer heavy maintenance intervals, of up to at least 12 years.

"Major aircraft manufacturers have already chosen AIRWARE(TM) for their new program: Airbus for the A350-XWB and Bombardier for the CSeries. We are particularly proud to look into the future of the aerospace industry by offering the reliability and performance of our solutions", concluded Christophe Villemin.