Local Midlands suppliers to the Airbus A380 were in attendance yesterday as the aircraft touched down on its maiden voyage to Birmingham International Airport.
The plane has been flying since 2007 but yesterday’s Emirates flight was the first time the A380 has made a commercial journey in the UK outside of Heathrow, London.
There are over 20 contributors to the Emirates A380 from the Midlands and six of those sent delegates to see the plane in their own neck of the woods yesterday. The companies present were Birmingham’s Timet UK and Bromford Industries (also of Leicester), Wolverhampton-based Goodrich Actuation Systems, GE Aviation and HS Marston Aerospace, and Eaton Aerospace of Redditch.
Bridget Day, innovation and technology manager at the Midlands Aerospace Alliance – an organisation which aims to create wealth and opportunities for aerospace organisations working within the region, said: “There are around 250 Midlands companies at the core of the aerospace industry (700 in total), and the roots of this established and highly experienced supply chain extend deep into our advanced engineering capability – which helps fuel the region’s economy.
“Today’s arrival of the A380 at Birmingham International Airport is testament to the world-class technical capabilities of the of the 21 Midlands Aerospace Alliance members that helped to make it possible.”
The following diagram illustrates the Midlands based companies with input to the A380 and what they supplied:
