Airbus creates 200 jobs in Bristol
Bristol-based aircraft manufacturer Airbus has announced 200 new jobs at its base in Filton.
The engineering jobs are a result of demand for its A350 passenger plane and government investment in the plant, the company said.
Airbus has more than 550 orders for the A350, which was expected to come into service in 2013, but has been delayed to the first half of 2014.
Neil Scott, head of engineering at Airbus Filton, said: "The new staff will work on the next generation of the A350, on further refining the world's latest passenger plane – the A380 – and on creating the aircraft of the future, the A320neo."
The business has received a share of the £88m of funding the South West bagged from the second round of the government's £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund.
Business secretary Vince Cable was visiting Airbus yesterday (24 November), along with other South West companies.
He also opened the multimillion-pound National Composites Centre in Bristol, which claims it will speed up new products going from the laboratory to the shop-floor.
Cable said: "The South West is becoming a real hub for composites and aerospace manufacturing, and is exactly the sort of place where targeted government support through schemes like the Regional Growth fund, can have a real benefit.
"By helping companies large and small unlock their potential for growth, we can make sure that we rebalance the economy and emerge with a stronger and more diverse industrial base."
