Boeing and Safran have announced the name of their 50-50 joint venture to design, build and service Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) — Initium Aerospace. From its Latin roots, ‘initium’ means ‘the beginning’ or ‘to start’, which is what an APU does when it provides the power to start the main aircraft engines and systems on the ground — and, if necessary, in flight.

Initium Aerospace starts with Boeing’s customer and airplane knowledge and Safran’s experience in designing and producing complex propulsion systems.

Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing Global Services (www.boeing.com), said: “This is an exciting milestone, as we bring together the best of both companies to design and build an advanced APU that will create more life-cycle value for our customers. This is further proof that Boeing is making strategic investments that strengthen our vertical capabilities and expand our services portfolio.”

The creation of Initium Aerospace follows the regulatory and anti-trust approvals that the joint venture received last November, after an agreement was reached in June.

Philippe Petitcolin, CEO of Safran (www.safran-group.com) , said: “I would like to congratulate everybody at Boeing and Safran who contributed to the creation of this new joint venture.

“Initium Aerospace is swiftly capitalising on the vast expertise of both partners to provide ‘state of the art’ APUs and innovative solutions to customers. We look forward to presenting the first demonstrator engine to the market.”

The initial team consists of employees from the two parent companies and is led by Etienne Boisseau.

The initial work is being done in San Diego (California), where they are focused on the next-generation APU design, as well as collaborating with teams across Boeing and Safran on engineering and production.