Airbus threat to UK operations after Brexit

imfml

Vaguely EI related.... but imagine if Airbus moved to the west of Ireland.

Brexit uncertainty is a disgrace, says Airbus http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46984229

sherology

imfml wrote: »

Vaguely EI related.... but imagine if Airbus moved to the west of Ireland.

Brexit uncertainty is a disgrace, says Airbus http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46984229

Occurred to me some time ago also... Shannon (so quiet and with a huge runway) would be a great location... But costs here are kinda high. Of course relocation of staff (and their skills) from the UK may be easier to facilitate to a Shannon type location than to another non-english speaking one.

Time will tell... New investments are often related to large orders and skills transfer to Asian countries, but who knows.

L1011

They need those components to be made close to France so Asia is not an option

MJohnston

Those "Information Security" jobs would be the easiest to relocate to Ireland, I would imagine.

Jamie2k9

L1011 wrote: »

They need those components to be made close to France so Asia is not an option

Leaving the UK is also not an option, just another global company making threats to cut 14,000 jobs.

L1011

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Leaving the UK is also not an option, just another global company making threats to cut 14,000 jobs.

Plenty of "they can't leave" jobs have left. Plenty more will too

Jamie2k9

L1011 wrote: »

Plenty of "they can't leave" jobs have left. Plenty more will too

A fraction of what was suggested and most firms re-locating HQ have not cut jobs.

Airbus are goong nowhere.

Hotblack Desiato

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Leaving the UK is also not an option, just another global company making threats to cut 14,000 jobs.

Did you read the article?

Mr Enders said that while the world's second-largest aerospace group could not "pick up and move our large UK factories to other parts of the world immediately", Airbus could be "forced to redirect future investments in the event of a no-deal Brexit".

If they stop investing in the UK then their existing plants will not be expanded or upgraded and will eventually be closed.

MJohnston

If you actually read what he said, it was this:

Mr Enders said that while the world's second-largest aerospace group could not "pick up and move our large UK factories to other parts of the world immediately", Airbus could be "forced to redirect future investments in the event of a no-deal Brexit".

So, yes, it's actually not about relocation, it's about not investing in the UK in the future.

kevinandrew

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

L1011 wrote: »

Plenty of "they can't leave" jobs have left. Plenty more will too

A fraction of what was suggested and most firms re-locating HQ have not cut jobs.

Airbus are goong nowhere.

It’s worth nothing that job losses already suffered in the UK have all come *before* Brexit itself.

It’s all well and good saying they’re a “fraction” of what was suggested but this is only the beginning. It’s naive and downright misleading to say in 9 months time “see, it wasn’t that bad” or “those companies aren’t going anywhere” when the implications of Brexit are going to be felt for decades.

The UK has already lost a number of jobs that wouldn’t have gone anywhere if it weren’t for the Brexit vote. It’s a clear indication of what will happen when the UK finally leaves.

neris

sherology wrote: »

Occurred to me some time ago also... Shannon (so quiet and with a huge runway) would be a great location... But costs here are kinda high. Of course relocation of staff (and their skills) from the UK may be easier to facilitate to a Shannon type location than to another non-english speaking one.

Time will tell... New investments are often related to large orders and skills transfer to Asian countries, but who knows.

is there not some sort of tax reduced trade area or tax status area down in shannon that was used to lure in multi nationals before? its not like our govt havent done deals with companies before to get them in and create jobs

Nijmegen

There is a strong aviation business in Ireland, but there isn't a strong defence and aerospace background. Most of Airbus is basically the amalgamation of a bunch of European defence giants. I can't see France, Germany or Spain wanting to give up those future investments. I could only really see Airbus making an investment here if it was guided to it as part of some EU post-Brexit economic plan for Ireland / snub to Britain.

Hotblack Desiato

neris wrote: »

is there not some sort of tax reduced trade area or tax status area down in shannon that was used to lure in multi nationals before?

Shannon Free Zone

Long gone, it was replaced by a special manufacturing corporate tax rate of 10% across the whole country, then the EU ruled that illegal so we just made the corporate tax rate 12.5% across the whole country for all types of business

its not like our govt havent done deals with companies before to get them in and create jobs

Nothing wrong with that but under EU rules you have some fairly high hurdles to jump to justify giving special status to a region. e.g. the Canary Islands have special VAT rates and are excise duty free, because they're so isolated from the rest of Spain and the cost of importing or exporting anything is high.

arubex

Airbus really fell in my estimation with this threat. If Boeing can assemble 787s from components made all around the World, incuding EU countries, then it shouldn't be difficult for Airbus to ship A350 wings from England or A220 wings from Belfast. I mean, Boeing flies fuselage barrels from Italy and wings from Japan all per WTO rules.

The need-for-deal is just a red herring. Wings for the A300 were manufactured by Hawker-Siddeley in Britain, before Britain's entry into the Common Market and two decades before the EU was even established. And somehow Airbus can run a final assembly line in Alabama, which is well outside the EU and has to import all the airframe componenents. And another FAL in China.

They just want to hold their cake and eat it too. If they pull-out then I hope Bombardier Belfast dumps the A220 and takes on even more Boeing work. Let Airbus try to find another wing supplier who can lay-up the wings using Belfast's patented process.

Cookiemunster

Seeing as Bombardier still own 31% of the A220 program, I highly doubt they'll be dumping it any time soon.

plodder

arubex wrote: »

Airbus really fell in my estimation with this threat. If Boeing can assemble 787s from components made all around the World, incuding EU countries, then it shouldn't be difficult for Airbus to ship A350 wings from England or A220 wings from Belfast. I mean, Boeing flies fuselage barrels from Italy and wings from Japan all per WTO rules.

The need-for-deal is just a red herring. Wings for the A300 were manufactured by Hawker-Siddeley in Britain, before Britain's entry into the Common Market and two decades before the EU was even established. And somehow Airbus can run a final assembly line in Alabama, which is well outside the EU and has to import all the airframe componenents. And another FAL in China.

They just want to hold their cake and eat it too. If they pull-out then I hope Bombardier Belfast dumps the A220 and takes on even more Boeing work. Let Airbus try to find another wing supplier who can lay-up the wings using Belfast's patented process.

I think it's mostly about the uncertainty. If it was decided two years ago that it would be WTO, then they could have planned for that. And I don't think the main issue is to do with shipping manufactured wings into the final assembly plants. I think the main problem is the 100,000 people who work for third party suppliers in the UK who supply components not just for Airbus in the UK but for Airbus elsewhere in the EU.

Having said that, I think the problem for Airbus is less serious than for car manufacturers like Toyota and Nissan. There is a much greater volume of components criss-crossing borders in that industry. Which makes me think if Tom Enders is saying this in public, the Japanese management of Nissan and Toyota must be saying the same in private to the UK govt.