Airbus’s plan to transfer work on its A320 wings to Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has caused a stir among the members and leadership of Unite, the UK’s biggest union, which described the move as “a massive own goal”.
Last Tuesday, Airbus told the workforce at the company’s Broughton plant in North Wales that work on the bottom wing skins on the A320 series would move to KAI, but that it would retrain and “redeploy” about 200 of the UK workers affected. The Unite union said the decision undermines “the world-beating skills of UK workers” and will weaken Britain’s position in the global aerospace industry.
We at this service warned many years ago that Airbus was inching to move production away from the UK. This move to Korea will be seen as a terrible snub to the UK. Many of you reading this will remember the huge UK “loan” to Airbus not too long ago which at the time secured UK jobs for the future. Airbus will be on its own with Germany and France footing the bill for any “assistance” in the future if this matter turns political which it is starting to look like doing. The UK has a very slender grip on aircraft production now and if that were to be lost in future years then UK based airlines should be in line for export credit. Mind you as reported here last month Air France-KLM managed to secure the same on a A380 deal so the rule book is already on the fire so to speak.