RIYADH — The General Authority for Competition (GAC) has approved two joint projects to manufacture metallic aerostructures and metal castings products in the Kingdom. By this, the total number of joint projects approved by the GAC reached 10 since the beginning of the year 2021. The GAC said that it issued a no-objection order to establish a joint venture between the Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Company (Dussur), the Saudi Company for Military Industries (SAMI) and the French company Figeac Aéro in the field of manufacturing aircraft components. This is the first joint venture to build a facility in the Kingdom to manufacture aviation structures. Figeac Aéro is a world-class French aerospace company specialized in the machining of structural, engine, and precision parts in light alloys and hard metals. The authority said that it has carefully studied the two markets and found that these two projects do not result in any market dominance in terms of market shares for all the parties, and that the joint projects will contribute to strengthening the local industry in accordance with the directives of the Kingdom's Vision 2030. It is noteworthy that SAMI had announced in June 2019 that it had entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Figeac Aéro to set up a joint venture to establish a metallic aerostructures manufacturing facility in the Kingdom. It has been agreed that SAMI will hold the majority of shares in the new entity, which will execute contracts relating to the manufacturing of military and commercial aviation metallic components. The manufacturing plant will be managed and operated by well-trained and qualified Saudi engineers and technicians. Activities carried out at the factory will include machining processes such as sheet metal work, surface treatment processes, and sub-assembly work to deliver finished goods to the final customer. The entity will leverage aerospace qualification and certification to provide parts, including commercial aircraft wing parts made from titanium. In addition, the program will support SAMI's other aeronautics joint ventures to drive localization in line with the Saudi Vision 2030 directives.
