{"id":668833,"date":"2026-01-02T11:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T11:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/668833\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T11:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T11:15:15","slug":"from-bristol-airport-to-rolls-royce-and-airbus-the-south-west-aerospace-sector-is-driving-economic-growth-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/668833\/","title":{"rendered":"From Bristol Airport to Rolls-Royce and Airbus: The South West aerospace sector is driving economic growth – report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Industry giants are creating highly skilled roles while Bristol and Cornwall Airport are also playing a major role\"AircraftAircraft at Bristol Airport<\/p>\n

The South West’s aerospace sector is creating tens of thousands jobs across the region and is driving economic growth, a new industry report has found.<\/p>\n

In the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) alone nearly 14,000 jobs are directly generated by the sector, according to the analysis by Sustainable Aviation – a coalition of UK airlines, airports, aerospace manufacturers, fuel producers and partners working to delivering carbon net zero aviation by 2050.<\/p>\n

In the wider South West region, including Cornwall and Devon, the aerospace industry has created more than 48,000 roles.<\/p>\n

Air freight also supports 5.5 per cent of the economy and contributes \u00a39.5bn to the region\u2019s GVA, the report found.<\/p>\n

“The aviation industry plays a particularly important role in the South West region and the West of England Combined Authority,” the report said.<\/p>\n

“The presence of world-leading industry, with [Bristol airport] as the gateway to the South West region, presents huge opportunities for the area.”<\/p>\n

The aerospace cluster in Filton and Bradley Stoke, South Gloucestershire, is currently home to industry giants including Rolls-Royce, GKN and Airbus, which employ thousands of people between them.<\/p>\n

\"TheAirbus production site in Filton, Bristol.(Image: Rowan Griffiths)<\/p>\n

These companies and their supply chains are “critical” to the high-value UK aerospace ecosystem, according to Sustainable Aviation, and are helping drive innovation in the sector and economic growth.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Bristol Airport is the largest airport in the South West, connected to more than 120 destinations and with more than 10 million passengers using the hub every year.<\/p>\n

The report said the airport was playing “a critical role” in connecting businesses – in particular the aerospace cluster at Filton – to global markets, and in providing a “baseload demand” for manufacturing and supply chains.<\/p>\n

In November, Bristol Airport launched a consultation<\/a> on plans to extend its runway to allow for new long-haul routes to the US and the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Cornwall Airport Newquay is proposing to carry out a major upgrade<\/a> as part of a modernisation programme.<\/p>\n

In December, the airport said its new high-performance tech would improve safety and reliability for passengers and operators.<\/p>\n

Duncan McCourt, chief executive of Sustainable Aviation, said: “Aviation benefits the West of England by driving jobs and economic value to the region and this report highlight how aviation is the bedrock of the regional economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is only half the story \u2013 as we drive growth, we are also leading the transition to a cleaner aviation sector.<\/p>\n

“Our industry has a clear and credible plan to decarbonise, and far from being a distant ambition, it is happening right now, creating a new wave of high-skilled jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December, another report found the West Country’s aerospace sector was helping boost manufacturing<\/a> across the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Industry giants are creating highly skilled roles while Bristol and Cornwall Airport are also playing a major roleAircraft…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[356,381,748,1700,3374,393,12028,4884,1474,28908,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-668833","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-aerospace","9":"tag-bristol","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-employment","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-gloucestershire","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-somerset","17":"tag-south-west","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115825221588926599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}