Boeing and the British government have reported significant positive results at their first review meeting, six months since the joint initiative on UK prosperity and growth was first announced.
“Britain’s defence industry plays a key role delivering an economy that works for everyone,” said Harriett Baldwin MP, Minister for Defence Procurement. “Across the UK, Britain’s defence companies provide highly skilled, well-paid jobs with world class manufacturing exports. Boeing expects to increase their UK workforce by 50% by 2020. This joint initiative is a prime example of the cutting edge, high-skilled, job-creating investment that our industrial strategy seeks to harness to make Britain one of the most competitive places in the world to innovate, build businesses and deliver secure, long-term prosperity for all."
At a meeting in London between executives from Boeing’s UK operations and the Ministry of Defence, Minister Harriett Baldwin and Boeing International President Marc Allen led the review of progress made on the initiative between the government and the company to enhance further prosperity in the UK.
“Boeing’s partnership with the UK, which dates back to the 1930s, goes from strength to strength today,” said Marc Allen, president of Boeing International. “Boeing values the UK’s aerospace and defence capabilities. Our relationship with the UK supply chain has more than doubled in value since 2011 and we are rapidly growing our UK-based businesses. This growth will continue in 2017 and beyond. Further significant announcements are planned in the near future, building on our achievements already in place.”
The prosperity initiative was announced at the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2016 alongside orders for nine P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft and 50 Apache AH-64E attack helicopters. Since then, the following new milestones have been achieved in collaboration with the government and UK industry, building on the objectives set out last summer and Boeing’s ongoing commitment to the UK:
In July 2016 it was announced that the five-metre wind tunnel at QinetiQ in Farnborough will benefit from a two million pound Government-industry funded project from a group of organisations comprising QinetiQ, Boeing, University of Surrey, ATE Aerotech and MTS Systems Corporation and the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), aimed at improving aircraft design accuracy for the global fleet using technology adapted from Formula One motor racing.
At the Farnborough International Airshow, Boeing signed the UK Aerospace industry’s Supply Chain Competitiveness Charter, designed to strengthen relationships between large companies and their suppliers so that they work together more effectively to raise UK productivity and competitiveness.
Boeing announced plans for a major development at Gatwick Airport to support commercial airline customers via a multi-million pound investment, creating jobs locally.
Boeing arranged and hosted a visit to Seattle for 37 UK suppliers to develop, grow and deepen their relationships with Boeing, driving enhanced prosperity in the UK.
Boeing has delivered training courses for UK suppliers on how to write successful bids to win additional business with the company, enhancing further the competitiveness of the UK supply chain. Further courses are planned for the future.
Boeing announced education partnerships with the Royal Academy of Engineering and with the RAF Air Training Corps cadets in Northern Ireland as part of the company’s community outreach programme, which reached more than 5,000 young people in the UK last year.