Airbus has revealed it will create 400 new jobs at its

new wing plant near Bristol - as it celebrates £20 billion of

new orders.

A deal to build the new £250 million Airbus composite plant at

Easter Compton, part of a joint venture with partner company

GKN, is likely to be signed in the next few weeks.

Details emerged as the planemaker, which currently employs

around 6,000 people at Filton, announced new orders worth a

total of £20 billion at the Farnborough Air Show - beating

arch-rival Boeing, which managed just £8 billion.

GKN, which is partnering Airbus on the next generation of

lightweight aircraft parts, wants to set up a wing plant in

Easter Compton to produce the composite materials for planes

including the A350 XWB, the firm’s new mid-range plane.

GKN and Airbus are looking at housing the wing development

team in existing empty warehouses rather than building a new

factory, which was originally planned.

Amicus union representatives, who originally feared the move

would mark the start of a decline at Filton, have now welcomed

GKN’s plans for the new site.

Every Airbus staff member based in Filton has been invited to

presentations by GKN about its plans for Filton.

The deal is awaiting the final signing of a contract between

Airbus and GKN, which Airbus UK chief Tom Williams told

Farnborough “would happen in weeks.”

Airbus union chiefs, including works convenor Mark Thomas, met

with GKN Aerospace chief executive officer Marcus Bryson on

Wednesday to seek clarification on Filton’s future.

Mr Thomas said yesterday that the meeting reassured the union

that there would be “substantial” investment in both the

existing Airbus site at Filton and in Easter Compton.

He said: “I can confirm that we are now in a position to

support the GKN proposal for the purchase of Filton operations

with the A350 facility being located at Easter

Compton. 

“Our decision to support this process is based around the

commitments that we have been given for further investment/work

packages that will be placed into both the Filton and Easter

Compton facilities.

“We’re much happier with the situation now that we’ve met with

GKN.

“We are now awaiting the signing of the deal between GKN and

Airbus, which we hope will be done in the next week.

“We’ve been told work on the A350 will definitely be done at

Easter Compton, which will mean another 300 to 400 more staff

will be taken on, in addition to the 6,000 staff which already

work at Airbus in Filton at the moment.”

In a statement, GKN said: “Both parties remain optimistic of

an early conclusion. Both Airbus and GKN continue to keep key

stakeholders, including all affected employees, the Trade

Unions and the UK and regional Government agencies, informed of

progress.”

Airbus announced yesterday  it will sell 10 long-haul

A350 XWB aircraft to South American consortium Synergy

Aerospace in a deal worth £1 billion at catalogue prices.

The deal takes Airbus' total orders so far at the week-long

Farnborough Air Show to 251 planes worth £20 billion - more

than double the value of the orders taken by Chicago-based

Boeing which has booked 152 deals worth £8.4 billion.

Etihad Airways, the state carrier of the United Arab Emirates,

which has made the biggest order by an airline so far at

Farnborough, splitting an order for 100 aircraft between Airbus

and Boeing worth £10 billion at list prices.

Other deals have been signed by Qatar Airways, FlyDubai, Saudi

Arabian Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Asiana Airlines and Arik

Air since the show began on Monday.