Low-carbon aviation is speeding up: construction of AURA factory at Toulouse-Francazal airport

AURA AERO new site will be dedicated to production of its INTEGRAL and ERA programs. New "home" is at  Toulouse-Francazal airport, France.  Rapid growth and ramp-up of production (over 100 orders for INTEGRAL as well as LOIfor 330 ERA aircraft), current infrastructures will develop very significantly in the near future. The goal is to meet its industrial calendar, planning on a production start for ERA - the regional 19-seater regional electric-hybrid aircraft - as soon as the end of 2025, the big move is planned within the next thirty months to this new site, bearing 40,000 sq.m of buildings.

AURA Factory will gather both the Industrial center (INTEGRAL and ERA assembly lines, with sub- assembly production lines) and the energy centre. It will also host the design and advanced research department, and customer center, the aircraft delivery center and of course the administrative, commercial and management teams. New site will be scaled to manufacture around 150 aircraft per year, 50 INTEGRAL and 100 ERA. Thus, the headcount will go from 130 people today to some 1,600 employees at maximum rate.

If we talk about investment - AURA Factory represents 150M€. Supported by Toulouse-Métropole and the Occitanie Region, the buildings should come out of the ground after all the preliminary technical and administrative studies. Sustainable development is the essential of AURA AERO DNA, this project aims at being as integrated as possible within its environment, especially the scenery and its biodiversity. AURA AERO is committed to minimize the buildings carbon impact, notably through the use of bio-sourced materials and processes, and through the search for optimized, no air-conditioning heating systems, with simple regulation solutions.

Jérémy Caussade, co-founder and President of AURA AERO, commented: “The trust that many international airlines place in us confirms the wish of the aviation sector to quickly shift towards decarbonization, with aircraft that better respect the environment. We aim at being among the leaders of this industrial revolution and we would like to express our gratitude to the regional communities, Toulouse Métropole and the Occitanie Region, for supporting us in the realization of this project, in a challenging time frame.”

AURA AERO will do its utmost to carry out autonomous and virtuous operations, through minimal use of external resources such as water or electricity:

• Onsite production and storage of electricity, for the needs of the buildings, for the industrial processes and for the charging of batteries, either for the manufactured aircraft or for the light logistics and employee vehicles;

• Onsite processing of waste water;

• Use of rainwater for sanitary facilities and watering.