Premium Aerotec

When an Airbus A350 passes overhead, you see an aircraft from Toulouse. Part of its fuselage, however, comes from Augsburg. That is exactly what Premium Aerotec stood for: fuselage shells, tanks and structural components from German plants, without which no Airbus gets finished at the end of the assembly line. The brand has not existed since July 2025. Its plants in Augsburg, Nordenham, Bremen and Varel keep working, though, just under the name Airbus Aerostructures. Here you’ll learn what was made there, how the company grew and disappeared again and on which aircraft you see the parts today.

A supplier from within the group

Premium Aerotec was never an independent aircraft builder. The company belonged throughout to Airbus, then still EADS, and built structural components that other plants assemble into complete aircraft. In the industry this is called aerostructures. It means fuselage shells, entire fuselage sections, door surrounds, pressure bulkheads, tanks and countless machined or formed individual parts.

The idea behind it dates from 2007. The weak US dollar and the expensive A380 and A350 programs put Airbus under pressure, and the group launched a cost-cutting program. One building block was the spin-off of several plants into independent companies – in Germany this created Premium Aerotec. The trade press at the time drew the comparison to Boeing, which had sold its fuselage plant in Wichita a few years earlier as Spirit AeroSystems. Unlike Spirit, however, Premium Aerotec remained a wholly owned group subsidiary.

The new company began operations on January 1, 2009. Three plants formed the core: the existing EADS plant in Augsburg and the Airbus plants in Nordenham and Varel. Around 6,000 people worked there at the start, and in its first year the company had revenue of about €1.1 billion. By 2019, revenue grew to around €2 billion.

Augsburg: Messerschmitt heritage and large CFRP parts

The most important plant was in Augsburg, more precisely in the south of the city on Haunstetter Straße. Aircraft building has a long history here. From 1916 the Bayerische Rumpler-Werke built aircraft at this site. In 1926 the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke took over the halls along with the plant airfield. Under Willy Messerschmitt this became Messerschmitt AG in 1938. Designs such as the Bf 108 Taifun and the Bf 109, later also the Me 262, were developed here. A dark chapter is part of this history too: in World War II, forced laborers and concentration camp prisoners had to work for Messerschmitt.

After the war Messerschmitt merged into Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm, and through DASA and EADS the path finally led to Airbus. In 2024 the plant celebrated 70 years of apprenticeship training; around 2,500 young people have gone through the Augsburg training workshop in that time.

According to the company, around 3,500 people worked in four Augsburg sub-plants in 2024. The focus was on large, highly stressed structures, partly in hybrid lightweight construction and carbon fiber (CFRP):

The Rear Center Tank especially shows how much engineering goes into an invisible part. Airbus awarded the contract in 2019, production began in Augsburg in June 2020, and the first tank went to Airbus in May 2021. In 2023, construction began on a hall of almost 14,000 square meters to expand tank production.

Nordenham: fuselage shells on the Weser

The Nordenham plant lies on the lower Weser, opposite Bremerhaven. Aviation came there in 1935, when Weser-Flugzeugbau began repairing seaplanes on the site of a former shipyard. In the postwar period the plant became part of the big German aerospace groups and finally of Airbus.

Nordenham specializes in fuselage shells. According to Airbus, around 5,000 shells are made there per year, and fuselage sections are also assembled. The plant also became known for a process in which stiffeners are laser-welded onto the fuselage skin instead of being riveted. It received the German Business Innovation Award for this in 2000. For the A321XLR, Nordenham was involved in sections 15 and 17, in section 17 together with Varel.

Since July 1, 2022, Nordenham no longer belongs to Premium Aerotec but to the newly founded Airbus Aerostructures. Little has changed about the work as a result, only the company signs are different.

Bremen and Hamburg: the short time under the Premium roof

Bremen and Hamburg were not among the founding plants but also ran under Premium Aerotec until mid-2022. In Bremen, according to Airbus, the focus today is on sheet metal and thermoplastic formed parts. Around four million such parts are made per year for the A320 family, the A330, the A350 and the A400M. The plant is set up to serve urgent customer requests within 48 hours. Airbus is also represented in Bremen with other, separate areas, so “Airbus in Bremen” is not the same as the former Premium Aerotec plant.

Hamburg was about structural assembly. Since 2022, Hamburg has been the headquarters of Airbus Aerostructures and its largest site, the competence center for the assembly of fuselage structures.

For spotters the north is attractive because plant and airport lie close together here. At Bremen Airport you can comfortably stand on the observation deck, and with a bit of luck a Beluga turns up, flying large components between the Airbus sites. You can read everything else about the city in the guide Plane spotting in Bremen.

Varel and Brașov: machined parts, 3D printing and stringers

The plant in Varel in the Friesland district is the machining center. Around 1,400 employees there made highly stressed machined parts in aluminum, titanium and steel in 2024. Add door surrounds for the A350’s passenger and cargo doors, air intake shells and ducts for the Eurofighter and large components for the A400M. Airbus also names the main deck sill unit of the A350F as a Varel component.

Varel took up 3D printing early. In 2019 Premium Aerotec was the first aviation supplier to receive full-process qualification for additively manufactured titanium components on multi-laser machines. In 2022 the first printed titanium structural parts for the A320 family went into series production, the third program with printed parts after the A400M and A350. With Lufthansa Technik, a printed spare part for the V2500 engine’s anti-icing system was also created and received EASA approval. A special feature is the construction of wind tunnel models used to test flap positions and flight phases.

In Ghimbav near Brașov in Romania, production began at the end of 2010. About 160 employees became more than 1,000. The plant mills and turns metal parts and makes around 1,200 different profiles, including stringers up to four meters long. These longitudinal stiffeners are in almost all Airbus models.

Military programs: Eurofighter and A400M

A large part of Premium Aerotec’s work was military. The Eurofighter center fuselage has come from Augsburg for decades. As early as 2009 the plant delivered the 300th unit. In November 2020 Premium Aerotec received the contract for the center fuselages of the 38 Eurofighters Germany had ordered with Tranche 4 (project “Quadriga”). The first center section from this order left Augsburg at the end of 2022. You’ll find more about the program at Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH and in the article Spotting the Eurofighter in Germany.

On the A400M the role was even bigger. Premium Aerotec made nearly the entire rear fuselage, shells of the center fuselage, metallic tubing systems and the upper cargo door. Airbus now states that about 60 percent of the A400M fuselage comes from Augsburg. In July 2024 Premium Aerotec delivered components for the transport for the 150th time. Where to see the A400M best in Germany is covered in the article on Wunstorf air base.

Restructuring, disputes and the end of the brand

Premium Aerotec’s history was never entirely calm. As early as 2013 the company announced a tougher restructuring to cut costs, and the management of the time cleared the way for new leadership. In 2015 Thomas Ehm took over. In February 2020 Airbus booked a restructuring charge of around €100 million for the subsidiary.

With the Covid crisis it got serious. In 2020 media reported up to around 2,800 jobs that could be cut in Augsburg and northern Germany. In 2021 Airbus considered selling the individual-parts production to an investor. In long negotiations, the IG Metall union secured a say. In March 2022 the sale of the Augsburg part was off the table, and talks then concentrated on Varel and the supplier Mubea. In the end there was no sale there either; Varel stayed in the group.

The actual reorganization came in two steps:

According to Airbus, Airbus Aerostructures today employs around 16,000 people from more than 70 nations. Besides the former Premium Aerotec plants, it also includes Stade, which builds large CFRP parts such as the A350’s upper wing cover.

What this means for spotters

You won’t be spotting a Premium Aerotec plant. There is no final assembly at the sites, and the plant grounds are security areas where photography is prohibited. Still, the knowledge is worthwhile because it changes how you look at every Airbus photo. When you photograph an A350 on approach, Augsburg carbon fiber is in its rear fuselage, and the stringers probably come from Romania.

The best places to see these parts again are the final assembly lines. Aircraft of the A320 family are built in Hamburg-Finkenwerder. How to get a good view there is explained in the article Spotting Airbus Finkenwerder; at Hamburg Airport the Affenfelsen (“monkey rock”) is a good choice. In Toulouse the A350s roll off the line; Toulouse-Blagnac Airport and the spot at Aeroscopia are the places to go.

Newly built aircraft are often recognizable by test registrations and factory flights. How to find them on radar is covered in the article Tracking test flights and factory flights. For transport between the plants, Airbus uses the Beluga XL, a photo subject that draws spotters at every Airbus site.

Premium Aerotec compared

The obvious comparison is Spirit AeroSystems. Both emerged in the 2000s from plants of the big aircraft makers, and both built mainly fuselage structures. Spirit was sold and stood independent for years, while Premium Aerotec always remained part of Airbus. In the end both groups pulled their structures manufacturing back in closer.

In Germany other suppliers complete the picture: Diehl Aviation builds cabins and systems, MTU Aero Engines engine parts, and Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH coordinates the fighter program for which Augsburg supplies the center section. If you’re interested in the role of large components in the Airbus system, the parent group Airbus has the overview of final assembly lines and programs.

Conclusion

For about 16 years, Premium Aerotec was the name for Airbus’s German structures manufacturing. In Augsburg, Nordenham, Varel, Bremen and Brașov, fuselage shells, large CFRP parts, tanks and millions of individual parts were made for almost every Airbus program, plus important structures for the Eurofighter and A400M. Since July 2025 the plants have carried the name Airbus Aerostructures, and the work goes on.

For you as a spotter, Premium Aerotec remains a piece of background knowledge that makes every A350, A321XLR or A400M photo a little richer. You can photograph the parts where they reappear as a finished aircraft.