GKN seals £136m Airbus deal

Today’s announcement follows the decision by Airbus in December last year to select GKN as its preferred partner for the acquisition of the Filton operation as part of its European plant disinvestment programme. GKN said the £136 million acquisition would accelerate its growth in the aerospace sector. As part of the deal, Airbus has also awarded GKN life of programme contracts on all existing Airbus programmes for the Filton operation and signed contracts for significant work packages to design and produce large scale composite structures for the wing of the new A350 XWB (Extra Wide Body) long haul airliner In 2009, the first full year under GKN’s ownership, it is expected that the Filton operation will have profitable revenues of around £375 million and will boost GKN’s order book for large civil aircraft structures increases from $4.5 billion to some $10 billion. GKN Chief Executive, Sir Kevin Smith (pictured), said “The acquisition of the Filton wing components and assemblies manufacturing operation is a further exciting step in the development of GKN’s aerospace business. The strategic logic is compelling. It brings a long term partnership with Airbus and a strong order backlog which supports solid growth. In addition, the position secured on A350 XWB provides future growth at the leading edge of aerospace composites manufacturing technology. “Filton is already a centre of excellence in metallic structures for Airbus and we intend to invest in the operation so that it also becomes a centre of excellence in composite wing structures serving the global aerospace market. The GKN team looks forward to welcoming those Filton employees who will be transferring to us.” The Filton wing component and assemblies operation being acquired by GKN employs approximately 1,500 people and has been developed by Airbus as a centre of excellence for wing structures. It is a manufacturing and assembly specialist for metallic wing components and assemblies such as leading and trailing edges, ribs and pylons. It supplies the full range of Airbus aircraft including the A320 family, A330/340 family, A380 and A400M. GKN intends to invest £125 million over five years to further develop the Filton business as global centre of excellence in composite wing structures as part of its participation on the A350 XWB. This new generation aircraft will feature an all-composite wing using the latest composite material and automated manufacturing technologies.