The Aerospace Lancashire mission at the global trade show includes property and investment agents Colliers International, recently appointed to market the Samlesbury Enterprise Zone site.
Aerospace Lancashire’s stand is alongside a range of the county’s aerospace companies and suppliers, including Hurst Green Plastics from Whalley, Valuechain from Lancaster, Clitheroe’s Granada Material Handling, Blackburn’s Castle Metals, RuleIQ from Nelson, Burnley’s Hycrome Aerospace and Senior Aerospace from Earby. A number of major international companies with a Lancashire presence will also be exhibiting, including Kaman, Safran-Aircelle, Magellan, Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems.
Aerospace Lancashire will be part of a North West aerospace presence at Farnborough facilitated by the North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA) trade association.
During the five-day aerospace trade show (July 11-15 2016), Aerospace Lancashire will be signposting delegates to all the local firms exhibiting and championing the region’s collective aerospace strength.
They will also be highlighting how Lancashire is well positioned to take advantage of a rising global demand for better and more innovative aircraft, in both the civil and military sectors, over the next two decades.
In a recent report by the ADS, the UK’s aerospace trade body, it found the UK market is set to benefit from $75 billion investment in commercial aircraft over the next 20 years, with UK airlines requiring 900 new and replacement aircraft to keep up with increasing passenger numbers and new routes.
With 65% of a single aircraft cost-base currently derived from external suppliers, the ADS also calculated that there will be massive opportunities for those firms who are part of the aerospace supply chain, and also predicts that the aircraft aftercare and service market could be worth an additional $49 billion between now and 2034.
Deloitte’s 2016 Global Aerospace Outlook report also supports the ADS findings and suggests there will be a 29.5% increase in commercial aircraft production over the next seven years. Deloitte predicts an uplift in military aircraft demand, which could be particularly significant for Lancashire’s with regard to the county’s long association with defence companies such as BAE Systems.
The strong and historic relationship between BAE and Lancashire is set to be further reinforced next week with the F-35 Lightning II fighter making its Farnborough debut.
The F-35 programme, which has an estimated value of $1 trillion and is described as the world's largest single defence programme, is led by Lockheed Martin in the USA with BAE Systems as its key European partner. BAE leads on several areas for the F-35, including the manufacture of its rear fuselage, and has calculated that the F-35 project already helps to support over 1,500 jobs in Lancashire and has generated over £8 million for the local economy in the last 12 months.
Edwin Booth, chair of the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership said: “Lancashire is the UK’s biggest aerospace cluster and employs nearly 13,000 people through a number of globally significant companies. We also have a very agile, highly productive and integrated aerospace supply chain, including many SMEs, which are all are set to potentially benefit from a boom in new orders.
“With the launch of Aerospace Lancashire we are already looking ahead to the next 20 years, which will be significantly different from the sector we know now. The next generation of aircraft will need to be smarter, more efficient and quieter, and while passenger jets are getting bigger, business jets will need to be sleeker and more bespoke. Military and other specialist aircraft are also evolving at a rapid rate and will require new materials and technologies which can be prototyped, tested and supplied far quicker than they can currently.
Andy Walker, head of business growth at Lancashire County Council said: “Lancashire has an unrivalled offer within the UK with regards to aerospace and we continue to compete successfully on a global scale with other leading international aerospace hubs. The outlook for the sector as a whole is currently very positive, and we are well placed to benefit from a ramp-up in orders in both the commercial and defence sectors.
