British Airways has become the first airline in the world to be certified to overhaul its own evacuation slides.

British Airways Interior Engineering (BAIE) in Blackwood, South Wales, will overhaul slides for its parent company’s new A380 fleet of eight aircraft, having spent £1 million on new tooling and re-configuring its workshops (helped by a £318,000 grant from the Welsh Assembly government). This work will create 15 jobs and safeguard 23.

The certification — awarded after BAIE technicians underwent slide-maintenance training in Phoenix, Arizona — is seen as significant as some of the aircraft BAIE is currently approved and qualified to work on are due to retire in 10 years.

Economy Minister Edwina Hart said: “BAIE is a global player, and to maintain this status it has to keep changing its mix of products and services, to meet the changing needs of the global aerospace sector and the new generation of aircraft.

“This is an important long-term investment by BAIE, which is now in ‘pole position’ to win more of this work. British Airways is a key member of one of our priority economic sectors and has strong links with Wales, where three of its subsidiaries are based.”