Dubai: Mubadala Development Company is close to reaching an agreement on which parts it will manufacture for Boeing Co and Airbus Group as part of the work package deals it signed with the plane makers at the 2013 Dubai Airshow.

Homaid Al Shemmari, Chief Executive Officer for Aerospace & Engineering Services at Mubadala, told Gulf News that they were “definitely at the end” of the negotiations but there were some details left to agree on.

“We’re working on some really complex work packages,” he said.

Two years ago, Mubadala signed an agreement with Boeing and Airbus for its subsidiary Strata Manufacturing to supply the two plane makers with composite parts valued for their aircraft. It already manufactures parts for Airbus A330s, A340s, A380s and Boeing 777s and 787s but Mubadala is pushing to do more.

“More complex, more technical, more automated,” Al Shemmari said.

Mubadala wants to supply parts for the Airbus A350, which came into service last year, and more complex parts for the A380, the world’s largest passenger jet. It is also interested in manufacturing parts for the 777x family, which is in development, and more 787 parts.

Al Shemmari said he is hopeful an agreement will be reach by the end of the year but unlikely to be reached at the Dubai Airshow, which ends on Thursday. He did suggest it could be announced next year at the inaugural Abu Dhabi Aviation and Aerospace Week next March.

“That would be a nice place also to announce them,” he said.

Second manufacturing plant

Strata is unlikely to start manufacturing the new parts it is seeking under the 2013 work packages agreement until at least 2017. Al Shemmari said Strata would need its second manufacturing plant, which will open in two years’ time, to be online to make the parts.

Mubadala also expects to soon agree on terms with Rolls-Royce about opening an engine maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Abu Dhabi as part of an agreement also signed at the Dubai Airshow in 2013, Al Shemmari said. Mubadala said on Monday it has reached a final agreement with General Electric (GE) on its 2013 Dubai Airshow deal to open a GE engine MRO facility in Abu Dhabi.