Bombardier Aerospace announced the start of production at its transitional facility in Morocco.

Following a graduation ceremony held on February 1 at the Institut des Métiers de l'Aéronautique (IMA), 18 aircraft assemblers began production of the first Bombardier components to come out of its Moroccan manufacturing facility.

“This is a very exciting milestone for us as we start to see our operation in Morocco take form,” said Hugo Brouillard, General Manager, Bombardier Aerospace, Morocco.

“With 18 new local employees fully engaged and trained in the Bombardier manufacturing process and philosophy, this is the first step towards a long future of quality component manufacturing at another world-class Bombardier facility,” he added.

Following the initial announcement in November 2011 of Bombardier's intention to build a manufacturing facility in Morocco, the Company has extended its timeline for construction of the new facility as the manufacturing plan evolves.

In order to maintain the timeline for production, Bombardier has set up operations in a transitional facility located at the Mohammed V International Airport in Nouaceur in the Greater Casablanca region, near its future permanent facility.

The Bombardier Aerospace transitional manufacturing facility in Morocco is currently producing simple structures including flight controls for the CRJ Series aircraft (photo).

By year-end, the facility is expected to employ approximately 100 fully trained aircraft assemblers.