Abu Dhabi's Strata secures new business from Swiss plane maker Pilatus

The Al Ain-based aerospace company will manufacture heat-pressed plane parts for the first time in the UAE, adding to its existing work package with Pilatus

Strata has won a new work package from Swiss plane maker Pilatus Aircraft. Photo: Strata

Strata, Mubadala Investment Company’s aerospace manufacturing unit, secured a new work package from Swiss plane maker Pilatus Aircraft, updating a long-term deal between the two companies.

Under the updated agreement, Strata will manufacture the interiors of the Pilatus PC-24 business jets, producing heat-pressed parts for the first time in the UAE, the Al Ain-based company said in a statement.

This adds to Strata's current Pilatus work packages, which include the PC-24 belly fairings, flap track fairings, pylon fairings, bullet fairings and tail cones.

“As a champion of the UAE’s home-grown manufacturing sector, our ability to scale up production is a testament to what can be achieved in this country and how we can positively impact the global aerospace industry,” Ismail Ali Abdulla, Strata's chief executive, said.

Strata pledged a 70 per cent Emiratisation rate for the project, it said.

In April, Strata announced it had won three work packages from Pilatus. Under an offset agreement between the Tawazun Economic Council and Pilatus, Strata will supply parts for the twin-engined PC-24 business jet.

Strata's deal comes during a push by the UAE to develop its industrial capabilities, with a plan to more than double the contribution of the industrial sector to the country's economy to Dh300 billion ($81.68bn) by 2031.

Last week, the Abu Dhabi government said will invest Dh10bn across six industrial programmes to more than double the size of the emirate’s manufacturing sector to Dh172bn by 2031.

Set up by Mubadala in Al Ain more than a decade ago to position the UAE in the global aerospace supply chain, Strata has billion-dollar contracts with Boeing, Airbus, Leonardo in Italy and Pilatus in Switzerland.

Looking ahead, Strata will add six more production lines to its 24 dedicated to aerospace sector-related manufacturing by the end of this year, Mr Abdulla said in an interview last week.

“Aerospace is at the heart of what we do,” he said, adding that the company is doubling down on expanding its capacity in its core focus area.

The company is also expanding into biopharmaceuticals manufacturing as well as holding discussions with global electric vehicle makers to bring EV manufacturing to the UAE, Mr Abdulla said at the time.