Alcoa has entered into an agreement with Airbus to supply 3D-printed titanium fuselage and engine pylon components for Airbus commercial aircraft. Alcoa expects to deliver the first additive manufactured parts to Airbus in mid-2016. Details of the agreement were not disclosed.

The agreement will draw on Alcoa’s decades of aerospace experience and new technologies gained through the recent acquisition of RTI and organic expansion in Whitehall, Michigan. Alcoa also recently invested in 3D-printing and metallic powder production capabilities at its technical center outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Last year, Alcoa acquired RTI International Metals (RTI)—now known as Alcoa Titanium & Engineered Products (ATEP)—which grew Alcoa’s additive manufacturing capabilities to include 3D-printed titanium and specialty metals parts produced at ATEP’s Austin, Texas facility. The Airbus agreement will draw on these capabilities as well as ATEP’s titanium ingot melting and billetizing, machining, finishing and inspection technologies.

Alcoa will employ CT scan and Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) capabilities at its advanced aerospace facility in Whitehall, Michigan. HIP is a technology that strengthens the metallic structures of traditional and additive manufactured parts made of titanium and nickel based superalloys. Through a $22m investment in Whitehall, Alcoa claims to have one of the largest aerospace HIP technology complexes in the world.

Additionally, Alcoa is bolstering its additive manufacturing capabilities through a $60m expansion in advanced 3D-printing materials and processes, including metallic powders. The expansion is located at the Alcoa Technical Center near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Alcoa’s aerospace businesses will form part of the Value-Add Company, to be named Arconic, following Alcoa’s separation in the second half of 2016. This agreement is Alcoa’s latest with Airbus, building on last year’s $1bn fastening systems agreement — Alcoa’s largest fastener contract ever with the European manufacturer.