Mubadala to make parts for Airbus planes

Mubadala Aerospace, a unit of Abu Dhabi’s state-owned investment firm Mubadala Development Co, signed two agreements to provide wing panels for Airbus SAS’s wide-body planes.

The production accords represent the first work packages directly from Airbus under a master supply agreement signed between Mubadala, Airbus and its parent European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co in November 2008, Mubadala said in an e- mailed statement today.

Airbus is seeking to shift more production to dollar-based economies to counter the decline of the US currency, the denomination of plane sales, against the euro, in which the aerospace company accrues most of its costs. The United Arab Emirates links its currency, the dirham, to the dollar. The dollar has fallen against the euro in recent weeks, sliding $1.4903 per euro last week, after touching $1.5048 on Nov 11.

The agreements call for Mubadala’s Strata plant to make from 2011 carbon fiber panel skins for ailerons, which are hinged control surfaces attached to the trailing edge of a wing, and control the airplane’s roll from one side to another. Strata will be the global sole source provider for those components.

Airbus is currently producing eight wide-body planes per month.