Door Industry Journal - Spring 2020

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk 78 THE door industry journal spring 2020 Industrial Doors & Shutters Jewers Doors Secures Major Airbus Contract Jewers Doors - a world-leader in the design, manufacture, installation and repair of aircraft hangar doors – secured a major new contract with Airbus. The aircraft manufacturer has asked Jewers to design four sets of special contour hangar doors to suit its current Airbus Beluga ST aircraft and new Beluga XL aircraft. The new doors comprise one pair of main contour doors for the XL and a secondary pair of internal mask doors to suit the ST aircraft. Only the nose section of the aircraft enters the hangar - the rest of the aircraft remains outside. The soft contours of each pair of doors are finished with natural rubber seals to reduce the entry of air, dust and water. The Airbus Beluga Transporter aircraft was developed using the Airbus A300-600. Its cargo is carried in the bulbous freight compartment accessed via the massive hinged nose door (hence the name, given its similarity in shape to a Beluga whale). These huge cargo planes have, over the years, carried sections of the international Space Station, large and delicate artworks, industrial machinery and even complete helicopters. This order taps into a core service of Jewers Doors, which for many years has been supplying contour doors that are specially shaped to encompass the fuselage of an aircraft in order to provide an environmental seal. The firm’s range of Esavian and Phoenix doors have been installed in the UK and throughout the world - including Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, North and South America - for more than 30 years These doors allow part of an aircraft (e.g. the nose or tail) to be within the controlled environment of a hangar for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations. With part (often the major part) of an aircraft remaining outside the hangar, space within the hangar is available for other aircraft to be worked on – thus increasing productivity.