Sector focus: Advanced manufacturing

Commercial planemaking stalls as Covid grounds growth

The impact of Covid-19 on Lancashire’s commercial aerospace sector has been deep and damaging with industry experts warning the job losses seen across the county may not yet be at an end.

With the virus grounding much of the world, new aircraft orders have been massively curtailed with some airlines cancelling or looking to defer programmes.

Airbus has reduced its production rates significantly. Production of its single aisle A320 has been cut from 63 aircraft a month to 40. Widebody aircraft production has almost halved.

Boeing has similarly reduced its production rates, while it also faced the total grounding of its latest version of its 737 Max in the wake two fatal crashes.

Aerospace employs around 17,000 people in Lancashire. The impact has been felt deep down the supply chain, with Rolls-Royce and Safran Nacelles among business announcing job losses in the county.

Sharon McDonald, chief executive of the North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA), says: “Over the last seven months we have seen a range of responses by the Lancashire aerospace supply chain.