GKN Aerospace commences operations at Filton, UK

Following European Regulatory approval GKN Aerospace announces it will take ownership and operational control of the former Airbus UK, Filton wing component and assemblies manufacturing facility at midday today.

As 'GKN Aerospace - Filton' opens for business, GKN Aerospace Chief Executive, Marcus Bryson comments: "This is a landmark day for our worldwide business, for the regional aerospace cluster around Bristol and the UK aerospace sector, and for the 1500 people joining us today. This is just the first day in our long term plan to grow the Filton operation and the capabilities of our team here to create a global centre of excellence for wing structures serving our international customer base."

"Today our long term strategic partnership with Airbus is reinforced and extended, providing Airbus with strong, independent and expert support for metallic and composite wing structures across all of its current and future programmes including A350 XWB"
Bryson continues. "And looking ahead, by investing in our facilities and in the workforce at Filton and incorporating this operation into our highly competitive global business, we will also be very well positioned to support a wide range of customers, to participate fully in the Next Generation Single Aisle (NGSA) and to gain a significant portion of the global wing structures market over the next 30 - 40 years."

This acquisition places GKN Aerospace as the major independent supplier of aero-structures in Europe and one of the leading three operations globally. GKN Aerospace is a world technology leader in the application of composites in aviation and has been closely involved in pioneering the growing use of composites in aircraft wings throughout the past decade.

GKN Aerospace - Filton has 1500 employees.
The addition of GKN Aerospace - Filton brings the company's global workforce to 10,000.
GKN Aerospace - Filton capabilities including wing systems manufacture and assembly.
GKN Aerospace - Filton will be the focus of the Company's A350 XWB participation - A new dedicated composite manufacturing facility will use the latest in automated composite manufacturing technologies to produce the A350 XWB wing trailing edge and wing spar and assemblies.
This acquisition, with the associated life of programme contracts and A350XWB work package, doubles the GKN Aerospace order book for large civil aircraft structures.