The chief executive of the Midlands Aerospace Alliance has said that the growth of the civil-aerospace sector presents the local supply chain with great opportunities, but he added that there are barriers to success. Andrew Mair said that manufacturers such as Airbus and Boeing now have orders stretching back seven years, with backlogs estimated at around 10,000 aircraft — worth a combined $1 trillion. This is enough to sustain the entire Midlands economy for three years, he said.

However, in order to take full advantage of the growing aerospace market, many local component suppliers “need to raise their game, while others need to find new market niches in the production system where their talents can excel. If the whole Midlands manufacturing economy is going to continue to benefit from the growing demand for big civil airliners across the world, we have to make sure that the work continues to flow into the heart of the supply chain. There is a lot of competition out there, not only from the emerging and low-cost economies but also from our European neighbours, like Germany and France.”