Aircraft
Leonardo To Assemble AW609 at Grottaglie Facility
The company is suspending production of airliner fuselages for Boeing for four months
Leonardo's Grottaglie production line for Boeing 787 airline fuselages
Leonardo will now use part of its Grottaglie factory, where it makes Boeing 787 airliner fuselages, to assemble the AW609 tiltrotor aircraft.

Leonardo has confirmed plans to add a second final assembly line for the AW609 tiltotor at its Grottaglie production facility in the province of Taranto in southern Italy. This would be in addition to the primary AW609 assembly line in Philadelphia.

Announced yesterday, the decision marks a strategic shift for the aerospace and defense group, which said it is diversifying the use of the Grottaglie site that had been mainly intended to build aerostructures for Boeing 787s. In a related development, Leonardo is also pausing 787 composite center fuselage barrel production to match reduced manufacturing and delivery rates at Boeing.