Farnborough International Air Show

The Farnborough International Air Show is currently open to hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world, including the North West Aerospace Alliance.

Farnborough is the world’s most important aerospace showcase and it is important to represent the importance to the North West region of its aerospace industry.

For companies who come with us and our member companies the event represents the global industry on one site.

Companies can assess their competition, see developments in the industry, and arrange meetings with suppliers and customers as well as getting an insight into the emerging technologies of the industry. It is an extremely efficient way, albeit tiring, to access the industry in one go.

The NWAA traditionally has the largest regional UK presence and this year will be no different. Some 35 companies will join us on a world class stand covering 450 square metres.

We believe we achieve a significant rise in display standard at each successive show and aim to offer the highest standards of service to those companies on our stand, which as usual will be in Hall 1, the first hall visitors come to.

Farnborough is the national aerospace showcase. The UK is number two in the world in aerospace from a business point of view, something that is probably not appreciated outside the industry.

To maintain this position is vital for our advanced manufacturing economy and national wealth. It showcases the level of our technology and industry.

The international dimension is an increasingly important part of our thinking. Centres of high quality manufacture are being created in countries such as China, Mexico and India, some on a ‘copy and paste’ basis from OEMs to minimise risk.

Understanding how the North West cluster integrates with these new centres is part of our planning process and Farnborough offers unparalleled access to international organisations.

For the public days, the NWAA changes its offering from one purely aimed at supporting its members by modifying the stand to promote the industry to young people.

Stimulating the future workforce is vital to the health of the industry and giving young people the opportunity to have hands on experience of engineering is part of the NWAA Farnborough strategy.

This year we hope Farnborough will show that the UK industry has survived the down turn in the economy and is emerging stronger to face the considerable challenges that lie ahead.

Martin Wright, chief executive, Northwest Aerospace Alliance.