Airbus factory sale ‘will have no impact on Broughton’

Sep 16 2008 by Bill Gleeson, Liverpool Daily Post

PART of a huge Airbus factory near Bristol is being sold to engineering giant GKN in a deal worth £136m – but the aircraft maker says the sale will have no effect on operations or jobs at its key wingmaking plant at Broughton, near Chester.

GKN is acquiring the manufacturing operation at the site in Filton which makes metallic wing components and assemblies for the full range of Airbus aircraft, including the A380 superjumbo.

Airbus has been negotiating to sell Filton to GKN for months.

There was speculation that a deal has been delayed by negotiations over price and a commitment by Airbus to provide the factory with future work on its latest extra wided-bodied A350 XWB aircraft, the wings for which will be built from carbon composites at the Broughton site.

The aircraft maker has always made it clear that, despite plans to sell off some factories across Europe – including Filton – it wanted to retain Broughton as a core site within the business and one of its leading centres of excellence.

Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said the sale of Filton was an important element in the company’s Power8 restructuring programme, which aims to ensure the company remains competitive with American rival Boeing in the long term. Selling off some plants helps the company engage with partners who can share some of the risk – and profits – associated with the development of new aircraft.

Airbus said: “The Airbus wing assembly site at Broughton, with a workforce of around 7,000, is unaffected by this transaction.”