Airbus CEO Urges UK Decision Makers to Avoid No-Deal Brexit

Airbus and the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is a founding nation of the Airbus consortium and one of the company’s four home markets.

Building on a proud 100-year British aviation heritage, every wing on Airbus commercial aircraft is designed and manufactured in the UK.

Employing a 14,000-strong workforce across more than 25 sites, Airbus is firmly rooted in the UK and its advanced technology industrial base stretching the length and breadth of the country from Aberdeen to Portsmouth.

Airbus is the largest commercial aerospace company in the UK and its biggest civil aerospace exporter; the biggest supplier of helicopters in the country; the UK’s largest space company and leading commercial provider of military satellite communications; the biggest supplier of large aircraft to the Royal Air Force; and a world leader in cybersecurity.

Each year Airbus spends in excess of £5 billion (approximately $6.5 billion) with UK suppliers.

This UK supply chain comprises more than 4,000 companies, ranging from large primes such as Rolls-Royce and GKN to hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) suppliers, each playing a vital role in helping Airbus deliver its world-leading products.

The Importance of Airbus to the UK

Martin Armstrong of statista writes, branding the current state of Brexit affairs “a disgrace”, the chief executive of Airbus, Tom Enders, has warned that the UK aerospace sector “now stands at a precipice”, warning that;

“If there’s a no-deal Brexit, we at Airbus will have to make potentially very harmful decisions for the UK.”

As the shown in this infographic, it would indeed be very harmful if the French giant were to abandon its UK operations.

The company currently employs 14,000 people at 25 sites and according to their own calculations, provided £7.8 billion in gross added value to the economy last year while spending over £6 billion at UK suppliers.

In his video statement yesterday, Enders bemoaned the fact that “more than two years after the result of the 2016 referendum, businesses are still unable to plan properly for the future”.

Going further he said: “Please don’t listen to the Brexiteers’ madness which asserts that ‘because we have huge plants here we will not move and we will always be here’.

They are wrong” and then warned: “In a global economy, the UK no longer has the capability to go it alone. Major aerospace projects are multinational affairs”.

Read: How Corporate Britain Is Bracing for No Deal

As reported by the Wichita Business Journal, the warning comes as fast-growing Spirit (NYSE: SPR) has been expanding its production capabilities in Wichita, particularly in relation to increasing production rates for Boeing and an expanding portfolio of defense work.

Wichita is also home to Airbus Americas Engineering, the company’s largest engineering office outside of Europe. That office also works closely with Airbus’ production plant in Mobile, Ala., which is expanding as work ramps up on the A220 passenger jet acquired from Bombardier Inc.

Boeing Government Shutdown Warning

While less alarming in tone, Boeing (NYSE: BA) also offered its own warning in relation to the ongoing government shutdown in the U.S.

While the company said in a report from the Puget Sound Business Journal that the shutdown has not yet had any major impact on its business, it could if it drags on much longer.

“We are concerned about the short-term effects on our friends, families, and neighbors in the communities we operate in, as well as the long-term effects that may begin to weigh on operational efficiency, pose other challenges for our business and the aviation sector in general.”

Boeing further said in a statement. “We urge the (Trump) Administration and Congress to reach a solution to this funding impasse to fully reopen the government and preserve U.S. economic growth.”

Breaking News: Trump Agrees to End Government Shutdown for 3 Weeks

Image Credit: Getty Images | Airbus

Related Brexit Papers

Managing Risk in Your S&OP/Integrated Business Planning Process
In this report, Aberdeen examines risk management from the demand side, the supply side, and the known areas of expected change resulting from the impact of Brexit and U.S. tax and trade policies. Download Now!

Getting Brexit-Ready in 2018
There are great long-term opportunities from Brexit, but companies need to be preparing their Supply Chain: Your Brexit Competitive Advantage for the changes that are sure to come, and ready when they arrive. Download Now!

Supply Chain: Your Brexit Competitive Advantage
As the official notification for Brexit gets closer, there are many unknowns for businesses in terms of how changes may affect them as well as many impacts that are becoming clearer. Download Now!

More Resources on Brexit