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Record surge in demand for aircraft BY EVA JONES wdbusiness@b-nm.co.uk There has been a surge in demand for new aircraft and engines in July, including for aerospace firms in the West, according to new data. Figures from aerospace trade organisation, ADS Group has highlighted the surge has resulted in the largest ever month-on-month increase in the order book. The boost, which brings the total backlog to 12,000 aircraft and 21,000 engines, is estimated to be worth between
Parts are produced at GKN’s Aerospace factory in Avonmouth
Daily business e-briefing www.southwestbusiness.co.uk is the home of business news for the region. Visit today and enjoy a free daily e-briefing £135 billion and £155 billion to the UK over the next nine years. The amount of orders will offer valuable stability to this wealth-producing sector and the many hundreds of thousands of people it employs. These new orders reflect long-term industry growth projections which forecast a demand for more than 29,000 commercial airliners between now and 2032. The increase is likely to take place as airlines aim to grow or improve their fleets to cater for rising passenger numbers. The industry is responding by increasing deliveries and deliveries in July were worth up to £1.7 billion to the UK. One of the firms based in the West is Airbus, based in Filton, Bristol. A spokesperson from
Airbus said: “The 2014 Farnborough Air Show was excellent as Airbus won US$75.3 billion worth of business for a total of 496 aircraft. This is particularly good news for the UK where the wings for our aircraft are designed and manufactured. Airbus sustains work for more than 100,000 people through an extended supply chain of more than 1,000 companies located across the UK, around 45 per cent of which are SMEs. The continuing strong order book helps to maintain the UK’s position as a European and global leader in aerospace.” Paul Everitt, chief executive of aerospace trade organisation, ADS Group said: “As an important event for the global aerospace industry, we expected to see a peak in orders during the Farnborough Airshow. However, the volume of firm orders placed in July was unprecedented adding almost 650 aircraft and 1,100 engines an already robust order book. Looking to the rest of the year, we expect the focus to shift to maximising production and delivery numbers. “Already this year, we have seen the number of aircraft being delivered increase significantly, putting us on track for a record-breaking year for aircraft deliveries, contributing more than £10 billion to the UK already this year.” In total the UK aerospace sector directly and indirectly employs a staggering 229,100 people. It has a turnover of £27.8 billion and has a 17 per cent global market share. The industry has also seen a 9.4 per cent annual growth. The UK aerospace industry has a global reputation for specialising in the development and manufacture of some of the most complicated and high tech parts of modern aircraft. This expertise is expected to generate around $600 billion for the UK economy between now and 2032 due to increased requirements for large civil airliners, business and regional aircraft and helicopters.
Mortgage error lands bank with hefty fine State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland was yesterday fined £14.5 million after the City regulator found “serious failings” in its advice to mortgage customers. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said only two of the 164 sales it reviewed between June 2011 and March 2013 were considered to meet the standard required overall in a sales process. It found RBS and its retail arm NatWest failed to consider the full extent of a customer’s budget when making a recommendation, while staff did not advise customers what mortgage term was appropriate for them. The regulator said there was
Royal Bank of Scotland has been fined £14.5 million by the FCA
An Airbus A380 superjumbo pictured flying over Clifton Suspension Bridge, in Bristol Airbus, based in Filton, in the city has been enjoying a boost to the industry with orders books filling up
no evidence that there was widespread detriment to customers, although RBS and NatWest will contact 30,000 consumers so they can raise any concerns they have about the advice they received. RBS said that in response to the regulator’s findings at the end of 2012, it overhauled its mortgage sales process and retrained all mortgage advisers. The Financial Services Authority, the FCA's predecessor, raised concerns in November 2011 about branch and telephone sales at RBS and NatWest but it was almost a year later before the firms started to take steps to put things right. The firms made assurances to the FSA in July 2012 that the necessary changes were under way to address the regulator’s concerns. Ross McEwan, who ran the RBS retail unit from August 2012 until his promotion to group chief executive in October last year, said the mortgage advice failings were “unacceptable and should never have happened”. Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement and financial crime at the FCA, said:“Where we raise concerns with firms we expect them to take effective action to resolve them without delay. This simply failed to happen in this case.”
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