Press Release

The partnership between Materialise and Airbus is now producing the first 3D-printed parts to be placed in the cabins of Airbus’s commercial aircraft, where they will be visible to passengers.

Leuven, Belgium – April 9, 2018. When it comes to retrofitting for aircraft, time is of the essence. During cabin retrofits, the integration of newly designed elements might create a need for adapting or redesigning some panels or spacers, which are typically required in low volumes and short timeframes. With tight retrofit timescales to meet, Airbus was looking for a quick and smart solution to produce these spacer panels, and they found it in Materialise’s Certified Additive Manufacturing.

The collaboration between Materialise and Airbus first started two years ago, when Materialise announced the manufacture of 3D-printed plastic parts for Airbus’s A350 XWB. Since then, the collaboration has steadily grown and is today expanding to new programs and services. Among these, Airbus upgrades is at the forefront. Airbus upgrades can benefit from the many of the advantages of 3D Printing such as speed, customization and cost-effectiveness for small batch production while meeting the stringent quality requirements of airworthiness authorities, Airbus, and their final customers.

Today, the partnership between Materialise and Airbus is producing the first 3D-printed parts to be placed in the cabins of Airbus’s commercial aircraft, where they will be visible to passengers: spacer panels located alongside the overhead storage compartments.

For more information on the project, please click below to visit the case study.

About Materialise

Materialise incorporates 27 years of 3D printing experience into a range of software solutions and 3D printing services, which together form the backbone of the 3D printing industry. Materialise’s open and flexible solutions enable players in a wide variety of industries, including healthcare, automotive, aerospace, art and design, and consumer goods, to build innovative 3D printing applications that aim to make the world a better and healthier place. Headquartered in Belgium, with branches worldwide, Materialise combines the largest group of software developers in the industry with one of the largest 3D printing facilities in the world.

Press contacts

Radhika Dhuru
 Marketing Coordinator, Materialise Manufacturing

Phone: +32 16 66 04 48
 Email: Radhika.Dhuru@materialise.be
 Twitter: @MaterialiseNV
 Facebook: @MaterialiseNV
 Visit: www.materialise.com