Alcoa signs multiyear supply contract with Boeing worth more than $1bn

Aerospace manufacturer Alcoa has signed a long-term contract to supply aluminum sheet and plate products to Boeing. The multiyear contract, valued at more than $1bn, is the largest ever between the two companies. “This historic agreement not only continues the 35-year Alcoa-Boeing partnership, it will take our collaboration on next-generation metallic technologies even further,” said Klaus Kleinfeld, Alcoa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We are proud that Alcoa’s lightweight structural solutions will continue to fly on Boeing’s most advanced aircraft today, and that our metallic science leadership will contribute to the Boeing aircraft of tomorrow.” Notably, the agreement makes Alcoa sole supplier to Boeing for wing skins on all of its metallic structure airplanes. Alcoa plate products, used in applications such as wing ribs, wing skins or other structural parts of the aircraft, will also be on every Boeing platform, including the 787 Dreamliner. Finally, the agreement establishes a foundation for continued collaboration on new, high-strength and corrosion-resistant alloys, including aluminum-lithium that could be used for complex structural applications. Alcoa’s aerospace business, which had revenues totaling $4bn in 2013, holds leading market positions in aerospace sheet and plate produced by its midstream business, Global Rolled Products (GRP) and in aerospace forgings, extrusions, jet engine airfoils and fastening systems produced by its downstream business, Engineered Products and Solutions (EPS).