Northwest aerospace on show at Farnborough
The Northwest's pre-eminence in the UK aerospace sector will be on full display this summer at the 60th annual Farnborough International Airshow. The week-long show, which starts on 14th July, showcases civilian and military aircraft to potential customers and investors. This year's event not only marks the airshow's 60th anniversary, but also 100 years since the first sustained flight from Farnborough.
The Northwest Aerospace Alliance (NWAA), the organisation representing some 750 member companies involved in the aviation sector in the Northwest, will have a major presence at the event. With its prime location in Exhibition Hall 1, it is in an ideal position to showcase the region's newest innovations in the field, further cementing the Northwest's standing as a vital link in the aerospace supply chain and a major competitor in the global market.
The aerospace sector in England's Northwest has long been recognised as one of Europe's leading industrial clusters and a model for development both within aerospace and in other areas of industry. It flies the flag for UK enterprise in advanced engineering and manufacturing. Employing 50,000 people directly with 120,000 jobs indirectly dependent on the sector, it generates more overseas income than the aviation sector in any other region. Over 800 companies, including BAE Systems, Airbus and TRW Lucas, contribute £7 billion per year to the local economy; a third of the UK's entire GVA in the aerospace sector. This represents the largest single concentration of aerospace production in the UK.
Aviation activity in the region spans all areas of the industry, from engine, airframe and avionics, to missiles and ground support equipment; from research and development to design, manufacturing, servicing and testing capabilities. The Northwest is responsible for developing over 100 types of aircraft, and some of the industry's most innovative advances, including the Nimrod, Tornado, Airbus wings and RB-211 jet engine, have been made in the Northwest.
It is also home to a whole host of smaller, innovative companies with in-depth expertise in particular areas of the industry. Companies like BHW Components in Wigan, which manufactures airframe structures, assemblies and detailed parts. The company recently received a £400,000 development grant, enabling it to purchase equipment needed to undertake a job supplying parts for the Eclipse 500, the market-leading US-produced business jet. Another recent success is CVI Technical Optics, which manufactures sells high energy laser optics and etalons on the Isle of Man. The company was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise earlier this year in recognition of its global success in sectors such as aerospace.
In terms of research expertise, Manchester Metropolitan University is home to the Centre for Transport and the Environment (CATE), an international research centre specialising in the environmental impacts of the aviation industry. It is also the headquarters of the Omega project, a publicly-funded partnership of nine leading UK universities, including Cambridge, Oxford and Cranfield, which aims to lead, coordinate and disseminate the ground-breaking research into aviation and the environment being undertaken at its member institutions. Other centres dedicated to aerospace R&D include the University of Manchester's Aerospace Research Institute, which was opened in 2007 to provide world-class research in the key areas of aerospace.
