travel News
Airbus Wing Production
A £28m grant has been awarded to Plane-maker Airbus from the assembly government to ensure the future of hi-tech wing production in Flintshire.
The money for the Broughton plant will create a new centre to develop composite wing production.
Brian Fleet, of Airbus, said it allowed the company to look beyond the “acute challenges of the economic downturn”.
Rhodri Morgan First Minister said the funding would guarantee Airbus’ future in Wales for years “if not decades”.
Morgan added, “We can all celebrate a major investment guaranteeing Airbus’ partnership with Wales for years, if not decades to come.
We also celebrate the fact Wales and the United Kingdom will now be moving into the mainstream in composites manufacturing – not just playing at composites, but moving to the top end of high-tech composite manufacturing technology.
“Airbus is an integral part of the Welsh economy. It is an invaluable asset to us. “This investment – and the move into composites – reinforces and enhances our reputation still further as a country with high skills and high value products.”
Brian Fleet, of Airbus UK, said: “We welcome the Welsh Assembly Government’s vital forward-looking investments in composites.
“This investment helps us to look beyond the acute challenges that currently face us as a result of the global economic downturn and allow us to take a long view into the future.”
After three months Airbus announced it was looking to cut 250 agency jobs at the Broughton site, which employs more than 6,000 people.
In a review of its business Airbus said it was looking at reducing staff. The Welsh Assembly Government said while “disappointing” it was “encouraging” the company was looking to avoid compulsory redundancies.
Because of the downturn in orders Unions were told the redundancies would come from the hawker business jet.
On Friday a new funding package was announced which aims to develop composite wing technology which will be used in the next generation of aircraft.
This facility will create an “environmentally-friendly assembly of wings at Broughton. The funding would “build future skill sets and strengthen the role of Wales as a centre of high-technology industries”.
Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones said: “This is not merely a matter of developing skills and safeguarding the employment of skilled people, vital though that is.
“It is a matter of introducing new technology that will put Wales and the UK at the forefront of carbon fibre composites technology.”
Welsh Liberal Democrat economy spokeswoman Jenny Randerson AM said a business-friendly environment still needed to be created.
“I, of course, welcome the fact that the government is prioritizing the future of one of the most important employers in north Wales but we won’t stem the tide of unemployment and economic downturn just by grant funding businesses and employers.”