Airbus announced it has created the first-ever single-piece composite center wing box. According to the company, the wing box leverages advances in composite technologies, including the molding of complex parts combined with continuous fiber.

The company is calling it “an important evolution of [a] structural component that provides support and rigidity for an aircraft’s wings.”

The new technology was designed by research and technology teams at Airbus’ Toulouse and Nantes facilities in France as an upgrade to conventional multi-part center wing boxes. Airbus says advantages of the new version including a 20 percent reduction in manufacturing costs.