Prime Minister David Cameron this week praised Bristol’s Airbus workers after attending the signing of a deal to sell 11 of the aerospace giant’s A330-300 wide-body aircraft to Garuda Indonesia, the country’s national carrier.
Mr Cameron, who was attending the Indonesian capital Jakarta as part of a UK trade mission, said the order helped safeguard the 4,500 design engineers at Airbus’s Filton plant.
He said: “This deal is good news for the UK aerospace industry. It is testament to the expertise of Airbus’s British workforce and a vote of confidence in Britain’s manufacturing base.
“I hope it will offer other British companies involved in the £1.5bn supply chain the opportunity to secure more contracts.”
The order is the third placed by Garuda Indonesia for the A330 since July 2010. The carrier now have 21 aircraft on firm order for future delivery.
While an order for 11 aircraft – especially of an established model like the A330 – is relatively small in global terms, Mr Cameron’s presence at the signing ceremony, along with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, give it a far higher profile.
Garuda Indonesia has chosen the latest extended range 235-tonne maximum take-off weight variant of the twin engine A330-300. The carrier will operate the aircraft with a premium two class layout on services from its hubs in Jakarta and Denpasar (Bali) to destinations in Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific.
The A330 is one of the most widely-used widebody aircraft in service. Airbus has recorded nearly 1,200 orders for the various versions of the aircraft and more than 800 aircraft are flying with some 90 operators worldwide. In addition to passenger and freighter aircraft, the A330 is also available in VIP and military transport / tanker variants.
Wing parts for the A330 are made by GKN Aerospace at Filton. The wings are assembled at Airbus’s plant in Broughton, North Wales, before being fitted to the aircraft’s fuselage in Toulouse.
