Airbus invests £150m in Broughton campus
An 893,400 sq ft warehouse is being transformed into a specialised factory for building wings for A321 planes, with work due to complete by the end of the year.
It’s a return to production for Airbus’s Broughton warehouse, which was formerly the production facility for A380 wings before that production line concluded in 2020.
The £150m is dedicated to the equipment needed to build the A321 wings, including six wing production jigs, an equipping line, and a paint shop. One of those wing production jigs is already in operation.
Broughton’s A320 wing factory will help address Airbus’s approximately 5,600 backlog of A321s.
When the work finishes, the new production line is expected to create 250 jobs within the refurbished factory. Across Airbus’s Broughton campus, the firm employs 6,000 people.
Jerome Blandin, head of Airbus wing, described the importance of the changes at Broughton.
“Around the world today, an A320 Family aircraft takes off or lands every two seconds, with wings designed and built in the UK,” he said.
“Investing in our capacity strengthens our industrial footprint, creates high value jobs that support the wider UK aerospace sector and ensures we remain competitive in the years to come.”
