Full order books

Aviation is booming: FACC is looking for 400 new employees

FACC - here CEO Robert Machtlinger - supplies various parts for the electric aircraft from Archer Aviation (below) and Eve Air Mobility (above), such as rudders and elevators.(Bild: Archer Aviation, Eve Air Mobility, Markus Wenzel, Krone KREATIV)

As demand for short- and medium-haul jets is high and the aviation industry has left the coronavirus crisis behind, FACC's order book will be full for years to come. At the same time, a future market is now becoming reality: air cabs are about to take off in the world's major cities.

San José is known as the heart of Silicon Valley. Tech giant Google is building a gigantic campus in the US city. But it is also home to Archer Aviation - a company that says it wants people to rethink how they get around and what they do with their time.

A mixture of drone and small aircraft
Archer builds electric aircraft that have room for four passengers, take off and land vertically like helicopters and look like a cross between a small plane and a drone. The first flights have been made, certification is underway and production is being ramped up in parallel. The air cab is due to start operating in 2025 - in New York, where Newark Airport is to be connected to Manhattan. Traffic jams will be avoided, but an enormous amount of time will be saved.

These new technologies are expected to account for 20 to 25 percent of our turnover in 2030

Robert Machtlinger, FACC-Vorstandschef

Forecast: Urban Air Mobility will be a billion-dollar business
This is just one example of how the future market known as Urban Air Mobility is now becoming a reality - which in turn opens doors for FACC, which manufactures rudders and elevators, for example. The Innviertel-based company recognized the potential early on and was one of the first development partners of the autonomous flying air cab EHang 216 from China. Urban Air Mobility is set to become a billion-dollar business, FACC wants to take a slice of the action and is already expanding its production capacities.

400 new employees in 2024 alone
Because the aviation industry is booming and the demand for short and medium-haul aircraft is high, capacity utilization is high anyway. "We are fully booked for the next seven to ten years," says CEO Robert Machtlinger. Staff recruitment in Upper Austria is underway: "400 new employees are planned for 2024." The company currently has 3,500 employees worldwide.