The aerospace industry

The aerospace industry is one of the most important and economically influential industrial sectors in the South West, one of Europe's premier aerospace industry regions. Hubs of activity are based in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Taunton. BAE Systems, Rolls Royce Aerospace and Airbus are some of the prime contractors and system suppliers based in the region, where t he sector supports and relies on over 500 supply-chain companies. Main suppliers include Smiths Aerospace, Goodrich and the BAE Systems Avionics Group. In total, the industry provides an estimated 44,500 jobs in the region. It is predicted that these numbers are likely to increase, as there is a growth trend in the sector.

As the aerospace industry is prominent in the region, this study has tried to estimate the quantities of products imported, produced, consumed and exported by the industry. This was achieved using products data (ProdCom) provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Investigations revealed that the aerospace industry in the South West:

• Imported over 57,000 tonnes of aircraft and spacecraft related products.
• Produced over 15,000 tonnes of products.
• Consumed approximately 35,800 tonnes of materials and products.
• Exported 37,200 tonnes.

Due to the confidential nature of data in this industry, the most recent and complete data available was for 1999. As some data was unavailable or suppressed, it is likely that the figures mentioned here are an underestimate of what is actually imported, produced, consumed and exported by this industry.

Table 6 provides a more detailed breakdown of the aerospace industry's product flows. The general lack of data on the industry highlights the issues of confidentiality and data availability in the public domain. To develop a better understanding of resource use and efficiency in this sector, it would be helpful for data to be made more freely available.

Table 6
Aerospace industry-related product flows in the South West, in 1999* (tonnes)

ProdCom code	ProdCom description	Production	Imports	Exports	Net supply (consumption)
Total aircraft and spacecraft		15,333	57,674	37,217	35,791
35301100	Aircraft spark-ignition internal combustion piston engines	0	1,560	996	564
35301210-70	Turbojets, turbofans & turboprops	***1,633	3,386	12,038	-7,019
35301300	Reaction engines including: Ramjets, pulse jets & rocket engines	12,931	47,139	18,585	41,485
35301430	Aircraft launching gear & parts thereof, deck-arrestor or similar gear & parts thereof	S	M	M	M
35301450	Ground flying trainers & parts thereof	602	M	M	602
35301500	Parts for aircraft spark-ignition reciprocating or rotary internal combustion piston engines	**	777	954	-177
35301600	Parts of turbo-jets or turbo-propellers	**	4,812	4,644	168
35302100-200	Gliders, balloons & other non-powered aircrafts	**	M	M	M
35303130-50	Helicopters	***167	M	M	***23
35303200-400	Aeroplanes & other aircrafts	S	M	M	M
35304000	Spacecraft, satellites & launch vehicles	0	0	0	0
35305030	Propellers and rotors etc for dirigibles, non-powered aircraft, helicopters & aeroplanes	**	M	M	M
35305050	Undercarriages etc for dirigibles, non-powered aircraft, helicopters, aeroplanes, spacecraft & launch vehicles	**	M	M	M
35305090	Parts for all types of aircraft	**	M	M	M
35309100	Repair and maintenance of aircraft & aircraft engines	**	M	M	M
35309230-70	Reconditioning of aeroplane engines, aeroplanes & other aircraft	**	M	M	M
* The data in this table should be viewed with caution. Due to confidentiality, many industries have not supplied the ONS with their sales figures, as illustrated by the data gaps. ** No data available. *** This figure contains suppressed data. S Suppressed data. M Data could not be calculated due to missing or suppressed figures.
Source: ONS, 2001

Sources: Mair & Field, 2002; Mair & UK Research Partnership, 2002; ONS, 2001; SWRDA, 2003 and WEAF, 2003.