A visit to ADMIRE: the new center accelerating ITP Aero’s engine tech ambitions

When you step onboard an airliner powered by Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney or GE Aerospace engines, chances are that quite a few critical parts of those engines have been made by a Basque company called ITP Aero. 

What began three and a half decades ago as a defense-oriented enterprise, born from Spain’s emerging participation in pan-European military aerospace programs like the Eurofighter, has evolved into one of the top Tier 1 suppliers to the commercial aviation industry. 

During these years, ITP Aero has continued to grow off the back of unmitigated global demand for airliners, with the civilian business now representing around three quarters of its revenue. Defense and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services represent the remaining 15 and 10%, respectively. 

British engine maker Rolls-Royce has played a major role in ATP Aero, being one of the company’s founding partners and, between 2016 and 2022, its sole owner. However, a major strategic reorientation led Rolls-Royce to sell its entire stake in ITP Aero to private equity firm Bain Capital in 2023 [the transaction was announced in 2021 and completed in 2022, after receiving government approval – Ed. Note]. 

How is ITP Aero doing two years after this momentous event?  

The short answer is not too bad, judging by the results. ITP Aero posted 24% revenue growth in 2024, reaching a record €1.61 billion (up from €1.3 billion the preceding year), reflecting not just a robust market performance, but also its ability to capitalize its newfound independence and position itself as an OEM-agnostic supplier. 

What’s more, the firm’s CEO, Eva Azoulay, wants to double ITP Aero’s revenue within the next five years through a combination of organic growth, diversification, and opportunistic acquisitions. 

AeroTime traveled to ITP Aero’s HQ in Zamudio, on the outskirts of Bilbao, to meet with Azoulay and ITP Aero’s senior management team and find out more about the company’s plans for further growth. 

A traditional Basque farmhouse has been preserved within the grounds of ITP Aero’s industrial site. Picture: Miquel Ros / AeroTime“Our top priority is execution. More than 90% of our revenue growth between now and 2030 is already committed. It is secured work. It’s under contract,” Azoulay said. “So, it’s all about execution and about leveraging our capabilities and technology. 

“Our second big priority is expanding our capabilities. As an independent player, and one of just a handful of tier one players in this industry, we think there’s a great opportunity to support what the market needs today. However, we will also be there when there’s a need for future platforms.” 

Azoulay highlighted the fact that there has been a change in the dynamic of the conversation with the various major OEMs as one of the positive effects of becoming an independent player. 

The third priority is technology and making sure the company is well positioned for the next cycle. Azoulay noted the long cycles in the aero engine industry, usually spanning multiple decades. For example, ITP Aero is currently reaping the benefits of its involvement in the Pratt & Whitney GTF program, which stems from investments made more than a decade ago, in 2013. 

The company’s expertise encompasses critical components and sub-systems. These include outlet guide vanes (OGVs), stationary blades that help straighten and direct the air flow inside the engine, as well as combustors and the related pipe network (there are 326 different tubes inside a Trent 1000 engine!). It also makes the integrated blade rotors (IBR) that spin within the engine shaft. The latter require a particularly sophisticated machining process since they have to be shaped with an exact angle of curvature. 

But perhaps the element for which ITP Aero is most well-known is its Low Pressure Turbines (LPT), a key element in the rear part of the engine, which the Basque firm produces, for example, for Rolls-Royce Trent engines. 

ITP Aero produces key parts of the rear section of Rolls-Royce’s Trent 1000 engines. AeroTime / Miquel RosSince 2021, ITP has also been producing Intermediate Pressure Turbines. These are located much closer to the core of the engine and are a step up in terms of complexity since they must be engineered to withstand extremely high temperatures. 

This move exemplifies ITP Aero’s willingness to move up the ladder when it comes to assembling entire sections of the engine.  

The manufacturing workflow for the Trent engine sub-assemblies exemplifies the integration of the modern aerospace logistics chain. Parts produced at the Zamudio facility are transported by road to another of the group’s plant in Ajalvir, near Madrid, where they are put together. These sub-assemblies are then shipped to Rolls-Royce’s facility in Derby, United Kingdom, for the final engine assembly ahead of their delivery to Boeing or Airbus. 

Betting on the continued growth of the MRO market 

In addition to its Spanish plants, ITP Aero also operates production facilities in the United Kingdom, Mexico and India and, following the acquisition of BP Aero in 2024, an aftermarket aeroengine services facility in Texas. 

This acquisition is indicative of ITP Aero’s growing interest in the MRO market, which is expected to be one of the drivers of growth for the firm. 

“We’re very happy with the BPA aero acquisition. It really has been a successful integration for us, and we’re seeing the demand for their capability in component work repairs, particularly on the CFM 56 [engines],” said Azoulay.  

The CEO explained that the plan is to continue investing in its own in-house MRO capabilities, while not ruling out additional acquisitions in this field, should the opportunity arise. 

“It’s going to be a combination of expanding our sites, both in the US and in Spain, and continuing to look at good M&A fit that allows us to grow faster because in this space, it does take time if you have to build everything from scratch. So, it has to be a combination,” Azoulay said. “We think component repair is a big value proposition. We do think that’s a real space for us to grow and we are looking at the full spectrum, from full overhaul to component repair, to see what is complementary for us.”  

Azoulay shared her vision that, when the existing platforms enter their maturity phase, third party independent providers will play an ever-increasing role in servicing the large number of aircraft and engines entering service today. 

Ultimately, ITP Aero aspires to become much more of a full-cycle provider, handling all stages between product design and aftermarket service support. 

Thinking decades ahead 

ITP Aero is allocating significant amounts of capital to this end. The company, Azoulay explained, is investing €100 million per year in capital expenditure and a further €100 million in R&D. 

In fact, one of the highlights of AeroTime’s field trip to Zamudio was a visit to ITP Aero’s new ADMIRE advanced manufacturing center, adjacent to the company’s main manufacturing site. This €24 million cutting-edge facility is one of ITP Aero’s efforts to strengthen the company’s advanced manufacturing capabilities and stay on top of its game for years to come. 

AeroTime / Miquel RosADMIRE (which is actually an acronym for ADvanced ManufacturIng aeRospace centEr) functions as a laboratory and testing ground for various state-of-the-art production methodologies. These include advanced metal casting techniques, additive manufacturing, and software to simulate and optimize precision engineering processes. 

Innovation at the center also extends to artificial intelligence (AI) applications. For example, ITP Aero has developed proprietary AI-driven inspection software capable of identifying and classifying component defects without human intervention. 

And, while current operations focus on established jet engine technologies, ITP Aero is also keeping an eye on emerging propulsion systems. The company is currently conducting parallel testing programs in Spain involving various promising technologies, ranging from electric auxiliary power units (APUs) to hydrogen combustion systems and fuel cell applications.  

To be clear, ITP Aero’s management thinks that gas turbine engines will continue to be paramount in commercial aviation and will remain the focus of attention. However, the company is also dabbling in other technologies, such as hydrogen and electric motors, since the company believes that, regardless of which of these technologies, if any, prevail, lessons will be learned.  

Take hydrogen propulsion for example. It’s a technology which may ultimately turn out to be similar to what ITP Aero offers today when it comes to working with low-pressure turbines (LPT), compressors, combustors, and so on.  

The management at ITP Aero also stated their confidence in the company’s readiness to handle a hypothetical industry transition to new forms of propulsion, since several of its key technologies are rather transversal. Everything related to heat management could serve today’s product as well as hydrogen, batteries, etc.  

At this point in the interview, we revisited the topic of long development cycles in the aero engines industry.  

So, how is ITP Aero ensuring it is ready for whatever is set to occur from 2030 onwards, particularly with regards to the narrowbody market? 

“We are in continuous discussion with all major OEMs, with whom we have had a long-term, decades-long relationship. We have a continuous ongoing conversation with them about what we call the collaboration road map,” Azoulay explained. “We talk about the present, but, of course, we talk about the future, as well. What needs they’ve got? Where can we bring value?”   

Nevertheless, Azoulay said, these are not relationships that ITP Aero takes for granted. 

“There is an expectation that we will continue to invest and be there for them, for those new platforms,” she added. “No OEM can lead on every technology, so they depend on us doing our part and investing to ensure we bring to the table better efficiency and better capabilities and performance for the engines.  

“There are new programs coming in,” she said. “But we’re certainly driving to keep growing and keep looking for new ways to play.” 

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