Airbus in the United Kingdom

Each of the divisions – Airbus, Airbus Helicopters and Airbus Defence and Space – leads their respective market, relying on diverse skills, advanced technologies and facilities, that can only be found in the UK, across more than 25 sites stretching across the country from Aberdeen to Portsmouth.

The UK, with its global influence in the aerospace, defence, space and security sectors, remains an important part of Airbus; much as Airbus remains an important part of the UK – with local revenues of £5.6 billion.

Assessing Airbus’ impact in areas such as jobs, investment, research & development (R&D), supply chain and sovereign capability, the survey highlights that Airbus remains a key component of the UK’s wider industrial manufacturing capabilities, supporting economic performance. A recent Airbus Oxford Economics survey report found that Airbus was responsible for £7 billion of total contribution to the UK economy. 

As a major employer in Britain, Airbus has invested significantly in levelling up its UK workforce. Airbus directly employs nearly 12,000 across its Commercial, Defence and Space and Helicopters divisions, and expects to hire a further 1,000 across the UK. Airbus indirectly supports 79,000 jobs in the UK, across the transport equipment manufacturing, business services and wholesale and retail trade sectors.

In 2022 alone, Airbus recognised the need to constantly invest in growth across the UK, spending £3.9 billion with UK suppliers. 50% of Airbus’ suppliers were SMEs, and the Company spent an average of £103,100 with micro firms (40% of average turnover).

Airbus are actively working with institutions and partners to progress the UK’s net-zero and decarbonisation missions via the research and testing of our hydrogen-powered aircraft programme, ZEROe, as well as our recently launched Wing Technology Development Centre (WTDC) for the building and testing of wings for next generation aircraft.

Airbus is supporting the UK’s ambition to become a Science and Technology Superpower, spending nearly £277 million on R&D in 2022, contributing to the technological advancement of both Britain and the wider aerospace industry.

The sites at Filton and Broughton design, test and manufacture the wings for all Airbus’ A320 family, A330 and A350 commercial aircraft, directly sustaining more than 8,000 full-time jobs and hundreds of apprenticeships. 

A220 family wings are designed and built by Spirit AeroSystems in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Broughton has a proud tradition of aerospace manufacturing dating back 80 years, having supplied the RAF with vital aircraft during the Second World War. Employing almost 5,000 people, Broughton is a global centre of excellence for manufacturing and delivers over 500 wing sets per year for the A320 family, A330 and A350. Airbus has invested more than £2 billion in the Broughton plant over the past 10 years. 

Core activities at Filton, where an additional 3,000 people work, are the design, engineering and support for Airbus wings, fuel systems and landing gear systems. Teams also work on aerodynamics research, development and test facilities, including for our ZEROe programme, while wings for the A400M transporter are assembled on site.

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