Airbus UK

Airbus UK (formerly EADS UK) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Airbus, based in the United Kingdom, which produces wings for Airbus aircraft. When Airbus (at the time known as EADS) was incorporated as a joint-stock company in 2001, BAE Systems transferred the British facilities of the transnational Airbus Industrie GIE consortium formed in 1970 to the new corporation in exchange of a 20% stake in it. These facilities, together, formed the entity called EADS UK. In 2006, EADS ended up acquiring BAE's 20% minority stake; EADS UK thus became a wholly owned subsidiary of the company. In 2015, EADS was rebranded "Airbus", and so were its divisions and many of its subsidiaries as a result, including EADS UK.

Airbus UK has three main sites responsible for the design and manufacture of the high-technology wings for all Airbus models as well as overall design and supply of the fuel system. For most Airbus models, the company is responsible for overall design and supply of landing gear. The company employs around 13,000 people at two sites: Filton, where the engineering and design activity takes place along with some manufacturing, and Broughton, where other major wing component manufacturing and all wing assembly takes place. Airbus recently acquired part of Spirit Aerosystems in [Belfast] that manufactured the wings of the A220 in order to maintain their supply chain.

History

Hawker Siddeley (which merged with British Aircraft Corporation

Sites

Airbus wing design and production was assigned to UK largely because of the advanced wing design of Hawker Siddeley Trident (D.H.121), designed by De Havilland. In the early days of Airbus, De Havilland design teams based in Hatfield worked on Airbus wing design and wing assembly was carried out in Broughton (a De Havilland manufacturing site). After Hawker Siddeley (the parent company of De Havilland) had become part of British Aerospace, the Hatfield site was closed. From the 1990s onwards, Airbus design work has been carried out at the Filton site, which was originally the Bristol Aeroplane Company.[8]

Filton

The Filton site is located on the former Bristol Aeroplane Company site, which was later used as the final assembly line for the British-built Concorde aircraft (the French-built Concordes were assembled in Toulouse, which is also now an Airbus site).

Airbus Filton employed over 4,500 people in a variety of roles as of 2011. The site is responsible for the design of the wing structure, fuel systems and landing gear integration. Some manufacturing also takes place in Filton, including the wing assembly for the A400M. Aerodynamics work, research and testing is also carried out.[9] In 2008, Airbus sold most of the component manufacturing activities on the Filton site to GKN, which continues to use these facilities to manufacture Airbus parts as a subcontractor.[10] In 2011 Airbus announced the construction of a new office complex, referred to as the "Aerospace Park", at the Filton site.[11]

Broughton

The current Airbus Broughton site was founded in 1939 as a shadow factory for the production of the Vickers Wellington and the Avro Lancaster. After the War De Havilland took over the factory and it was used to produce various aircraft, including the Mosquito and the Comet.[12]

In 2011, Airbus Broughton employed more than 6,500 people, mostly in manufacturing roles. The site is responsible for the wing assembly for all Airbus aircraft, with the exception of the Chinese A320s (these wings are assembled in China), the A220 (assembled in Belfast),[13] and the A400M (assembled in Filton). Airbus wings are transported by Airbus Beluga or Airbus BelugaXL to the final assembly lines at Airbus Hamburg Finkenwerder and Airbus Toulouse.[9]

type	Private
foundation	November 20, 1997
location city	Bristol
location country	United Kingdom
key people	Katherine Bennett CBE (senior vice-president)‡R1R‡
industry	Aerospace
products	Aerostructures
revenue	£2,068 million (2005)‡R2R‡
num employees	10,135 (2005)‡R2R‡
parent	Airbus

History

Sites

Filton

Broughton

Aircraft

See also

References