Aviation, you might think, is where steel ceases to have a significant role to play - it is, after all, too dense, particularly for a gigantic aircraft like the new A380, which poses anew the question of lightweight materials. And in principle, of course, you'd be right. But the highly sophisticated lightweight CRP panels that make up the structure of the A380 must firstly be shaped - and the moulds necessary have to consist of a special iron/nickel alloy.

Production of these moulds, for its part, is best left, in view of the high requirements for dimensional accuracy, to the experts in heavy plate. In this particular case, it was entrusted to Dillinger Hütte GTS, and the decision was in no sense a coincidence - the ingots for the moulds used on the previous Airbus A320, A330 and A340 projects had also been rolled by our company.