UK aerospace industry receives £1 billion investment from Government over 7 year period

On 18th March the Government’s Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS) announced that the aerospace industry will be given £2 billion over 7 years. The aim is to secure jobs, and to set up a UK Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), allowing industry and academic researchers to develop the next generation of quieter, more energy efficient aircraft.  There is realisation that aviation has to find ways to produce planes that use less fuel. Vince Cable said: Vince Cable says: “A step change in technology is needed if these aircraft are going to deliver the improvements in efficiency and environmental performance needed to make air travel sustainable.” Half the money will come from Government and half from the industry.  BIS has produced its Aerospace Strategy, which has been developed jointly with business through the Aerospace Growth Partnership. The Strategy builds on the Strategic Vision for UK Aerospace published at the Farnborough Air Show in July 2012.  As part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy, the UK government will also put £500 million towards other sectors such as the automobile industry and agriculture technology.

 

 

UK aerospace industry receives £2 billion investment

Department for Business Innovation & Skills press release

18.3.2013

An A-380 Airbus before take-off on the runway

The aerospace industrial strategy sets out how the sector will continue to grow in the face of increasing global competition and to exploit rapid changes in technology.

The £2 billion funding announced on 18 March 2013 will be provided by government and the aerospace industry over a seven year period and help secure around 115,000 jobs.

The funding will also create a UK Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), allowing industry and academic researchers to develop the next generation of quieter, more energy efficient aircraft.

As part of the Industrial Strategy government will also put £500 million towards other sectors such as the automobile industry and agriculture technology.

Why is UK Aerospace so important?

The aerospace industry contributes billions of pounds to the UK economy every year:

Infographic with statistics of the contribution of the aerospace industry to the UK economy

To ensure the UK aerospace industry remains second only to the United States, the strategy focuses on investment in four key areas:

  • wings
  • engines
  • aero-structures
  • advanced systems

Commitment to a long-term industrial strategy

The industrial strategy is about planning for the future, presenting a long-term, whole of government approach to supporting British business, giving them the confidence they need to invest, hire staff and grow.

We are developing long-term strategies in partnership with industry in eleven key sectors including nuclear, education and the information economy. These will be published in the coming months.

The aerospace strategy announcement was made alongside the publication of the government response to Lord Heseltine’s growth plan ‘No Stone Unturned’. The government accepts the majority of Lord Heseltine’s 89 recommendations across areas of public policy that affect economic growth, including the creation of a new Single Local Growth Fund from 2015.

Read in full about the government’s response.

Further information

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-aerospace-industry-receives-2-billion-investment

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The BIS says:

This Aerospace Strategy was developed jointly with business through the Aerospace Growth Partnership, which we established in 2010. It builds on the Strategic Vision for UK Aerospace published at the Farnborough Air Show in July 2012.

The strategy sets out an ambitious programme secure the future of the UK’s aerospace industry over the next decade and beyond, and to capture the huge market opportunities from global growth in air travel. It aims to keep the UK at the forefront of world aerospace manufacturing and help us address the challenges of increasing global competition and changes in technology. It seeks to ensure the UK has the capabilities to be at the leading edge of the design, development and production of wings, engines, aerostructures and advanced systems.

The aerospace strategy is part of the government’s industrial strategy.


 

The document is at:

Lifting Off: Implementing the Strategic Vision for UK Aerospace

An industrial strategy for aerospace, implementing a shared government and industry vision for the sector.

Ref: BIS/13/723PDF, 2.85MB, 72 pages

 

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Some comments from the “

Lifting Off – 

Implementing the Strategic Vision for UK Aerospace” document

Aerospace is a national economic asset to be supported. It is estimated that there will be global demand for 27,000 new passenger aircraft, worth around $3.7 trillion, by 2030. The UK has the second largest aerospace sector in the world and we are well placed to compete for this new business. George Osborne says he is committed to ensuring that the UK continues to be a world leader in this sector.

Vince Cable says: A step change in technology is needed if these aircraft are going to deliver the improvements in efficiency and environmental performance needed to make air travel sustainable.

At the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2012, we announced a further £100 million of investments by Government and industry in low carbon aeroengine technology and other innovative aerospace technology projects. In addition, the AGP (Aerospace Growth Partnership) has launched a new initiative, jointly funded by Government and industry, to train 500 new aerospace engineers to Masters level over three years. Aerospace projects have also been supported with funding from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund and Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative.
Global growth in air travel will only be sustainable if future aircraft deliver substantial improvements in environmental performance, in particular noise and carbon emissions and reductions in operating costs of at least 20%. Achieving these will be essential for the reputation of the sector as well as for future competitiveness. It can only be achieved with radical design changes and new manufacturing methods.