Winner Airbus UK
NO one could have envisaged that when aircraft were first built at Filton the industry would still be a major contributor to the Bristol region economy more than a hundred years later.
Down the years, many thousands of people, including three or more generations from the same family, have taken home a pay packet from the aircraft works and aviation firms that lined the A38 in South Gloucestershire.
The industry also provides work for many more through engineering sub-contractors and suppliers in the ever expanding chain.
Today Airbus UK employs around 4,500 people at Filton working on the Airbus family of commercial and military aircraft.
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The multi-national and pan- European firm says it will be recruiting 500 new staff, many of them engineers, this year at its plants at Filton and Broughton in Wales.
Airbus has become a company which employs a highly skilled and highly trained workforce.
"We also recruit some 100 apprentices a year. This includes a new apprentice scheme we have called the Undergraduate Apprentice Scheme which will give them the opportunity to gain a Bachelor of Engineering degree," said spokesman Jason Impey.
More than 2,000 engineers at the site are involved in a range of areas, including wing integration, flight physics, structures and systems.
Filton is also responsible for wing assembly and equipping for the A400M multi-role airlifter, and is home to a Composites Structures Development Centre – which is at the cutting edge of the aviation industry.
The company was given a major boost earlier this month thanks to a Scandinavian airline. Norwegian, one of the biggest budget airlines in Europe, placed an order for 100 new aircraft.
This is an order worth an estimated £6.5 billion and makes Norwegian one of the biggest operators of the fuel efficient A320 neo aircraft in the world.
The technology was designed and developed at Filton and, as a result, the A320 has become one of the fast-selling planes in the history of the aviation industry. More orders for it are expected when the Farnborough International Airshow takes place at the start of next month. The industry gathering is the key event in the aviation calendar and normally results in orders worth billions of pounds.
Over the last 12 months Airbus UK has overtaken its American rival Boeing, to become the biggest aircraft maker in the world.
In 2011 the firm delivered 534 commercial aircraft to 88 customers, marking the 10th year in a row with an increase in production output.
Its backlog at the end of December was 4,437 aircraft – valued at more than $588 billion at list prices, and equalling seven to eight years of production.
"We invested £417 million in research and development last year," said Mr Impey. "This helped us keep our competitive edge in a global marketplace. Filton is a centre of engineering excellence for research, design and testing, specialising in wings, fuel systems and fuel testing."
The first aircraft to be constructed on the site Airbus occupies was the Bristol Boxkite, a product of the British and Colonial Aircraft Company which was set up in 1910 by transport pioneer and businessman Sir George White who was born in Cotham. The firm designed and built both aircraft and engines.
Comments
by ILoveBristol
Wednesday, June 20 2012, 5:56PM
“Well said KBarad.
Yes, Filton has an amazing history that we can all be proud of. However the current incarnation of SGC councillors are throwing it all away by allowing the corporate vested interests to destroy it, just because it suits their own personal goals of meeting some abitrary housing goals, the statistics of which they were based on, were worked out back in the boom times before the crash.
All the hard work of 3 or 4 generations destroyed in less than 10 years by just a handful of people who only seem to care about short term goal filling, rather than what's best for the future of the area and those that live there.
Shameful, disgraceful and reprehensible!
Surely, in a democracy, if the majority of people they purport to represent say they don't want something to happen, then the councillors and council officers should not do it?
If they don't listen, then they need to be held to account.
Now, that's where we the people come into play, isn't it?”
by KBarad
Wednesday, June 20 2012, 4:38PM
“factually incorrect in places:
I believe it's a little below 3000 people working for Airbus in Filton now. Remember that a large portion was sold off to GKN a few years ago.
"Airbus UK" hasn't overtaken Boeing, Airbus as a whole has. The facilities in Hamburg and Toulouse alone are significantly bigger than both of our main UK sites combined. They are also both growing substantially faster. By comparison we are losing our airfield and much of our connectivity to the rest of Europe.”