Airbus Broughton welcomes largest intake of apprentices in decades

Airbus has welcomed its largest number of apprentices in decades as 140 budding engineer and support-function apprentices began their journey at the aerospace giant’s Broughton site.

It is believed the number also represents the largest single-site intake of apprentices in one cohort by any organisation in Wales this year and includes 100 ‘craft’ and 40 undergraduate apprenticeships. In addition, 10 graduate trainees started at the plant last week.

New craft apprentice Kara Wright, 16, from Wrexham, left school this summer with an impressive 11 GCSEs, including Engineering, and was thrilled when she was accepted on to the apprenticeship programme. She said:

“Airbus has a great reputation as an employer and I’d always wanted a hands-on job rather than be based in an office.

I’m proud at how far I’ve already come since passing my GCSEs – becoming an apprentice while completing a NVQ.

I’d love to pursue a career with Airbus, travel to the many different sites across the world, and maybe end up in a management role eventually.”

Undergraduate apprentice Joshua Fifer, from north London, left school this summer with A-levels in Maths, Physics and Computer Science and will now study for a degree in aeronautical engineering while enrolled on his three-year apprenticeship. The 19-year-old said:

“I decided to go down the apprenticeship route as it gives you valuable work experience while studying for a degree, and you get paid, so don’t build up a huge debt.

I’ve always wanted to go into engineering. I like being hands on – building stuff and taking things apart to understand how they work.

He added: “I’d love to pursue a career with Airbus after finishing my apprenticeship. Being a multinational company, there’s a lot of exciting opportunities available all over the world and having the chance to work in new cultures and learn how they do things differently would be an interesting experience.”

Paul McKinlay, Airbus Senior Vice President and Head of Broughton Plant, said:

“Airbus apprenticeships have proven to be a highly successful springboard for those wishing to pursue a career in the thriving aerospace and aviation sectors.

“Of course, we as a company benefit too by having the opportunity to work with and develop the next generation of engineering and support-function talent and we hope many of the apprentices joining us today will go on to have long and successful careers at Airbus.”

Gavin Jones, Head of Early Careers at Airbus in the UK, added:

“An apprenticeship at Airbus offers paid on-the-job training and invaluable work experience, all while still being able to further your education to either national diploma or university degree level.

“The value of our apprenticeship programme speaks for itself with so many going on to extremely successful careers in aerospace and aviation. Indeed, many of Airbus’s current senior managers started their careers through our apprenticeship programme.”