Aircraft: a priority for Auvergne
Auvergne's aircraft industry employs over 10,000 people across one hundred or so companies which have developed expertise sought after by the big European and American stake-holders.

European-scale companies
The majority of the big-sized companies of the region are involved in large-scale European programmes such as those relating to the A380, the A350 XWB, the new generation A320, the A400 M and the Falcon F7X. This is the case for Michelin, Aubert & Duval (supplier to Airbus, Bombardier, Embraer, Boeing) or even Safran/Sagem, leader in UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) technologies. The SMEs-SMIs also work with key stake-holders such as the likes of Airbus, Dassault or Eurocopter.
Their annual turnover is approximately 2.1 billion euros and they are established in all the sectors of the aircraft and space market: military fighter and transport aircraft, commercial small, medium and jumbo aircraft and also helicopters, drones, missiles, launchers and satellites.

Training and research
With guaranteeing businesses skilled labour in mind, the Auvergne region has efficient training centres and schools specialised in aircraft: Institut Français de Mécanique Avancée (IFMA) (French institute for advanced mechanical engineering) , Institut Supérieur d’Informatique, de Modélisation et de ses Applications (French graduate engineering school focused on computing and its applications) (ISIMA), Institut des Sciences et Techniques (Institute of engineering sciences) (POLYTECH’), École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie (Clermont-Ferrand’s Superior National School of Chemistry) (ENSCCF).

In parallel, Auvergne benefits from the expertise of private research centres of worldwide renown with the laboratories of companies such as Michelin, Alcan Rhenalu, Aubert et Duval, Safran, NSE …

Infrastructures
Finally, the region has set up infrastructures to match its ambitions: Clermont-Ferrand/Auvergne international airport has connections to eighteen French and European destinations with a turnover of approximately 600,000 passengers per year.
An industrial estate located on the airport platform of Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne, the Zone Industrielle Aéronautique Sud, is dedicated to aircraft sub-contracting companies and accommodates an aircraft cluster of over 2,000 employees.