With the annual Aircraft Interiors Expo taking place this week in Hamburg, Germany, here are 5 things you may not know about the UK’s Aerospace industry and the world of aircraft interiors…
1. Two of the world’s largest aircraft seating companies have bases in the UK – Zodiac Aerospace and B/E Aerospace are based in Cwmbran (Wales) and Kilkeel (Northern Ireland) respectively. B/E in particular employs 800 people and develops 8 different aircraft seating types from their Northern Ireland facility.
2. The UK exported around £430m worth of aircraft seating in 2015 – This represented a 7%, £30m, growth on exports in 2014, and a 22% growth from 2013 levels. Exports in 2015 have also more than doubled over the last 5 years.
3. North America is the UK’s largest export market for aircraft seating – £288m worth of aircraft seating were exported to North America in 2015. However, the Asia and Oceania region was the fastest growing market, with a £10m, 30% increase from 2014 levels.
Chart – % of 2015 UK Aircraft Seating Exports to Regions
4. Five of the world’s top Eight aircraft interior design companies are based in London – Recently, the London-based ‘Etihad Design Consortium’ (consisting of 3 companies) designed Etihad’s new interiors for its Airbus A380s and Boeing B787 Dreamliners – including the airline industry’s most luxurious on board living space, ‘The Residence’.
5. One UK company has supplied one-third of the world’s passenger fleet with photoluminescent aircraft lighting – STG Aerospace, based in Norfolk, supplies world leading aircraft lighting solutions for aircraft signs and emergency floor path lighting, winning a Boeing Supplier Excellence award for the last 7 consecutive years.
