Broughton: Prime Minister hails ‘landmark’ Airbus deal to supply 250 jets to Air India

Airbus has announced a “landmark deal” to provide new aircraft for Air India, worth billions of pounds to the UK.

The airline has agreed to purchase 210 Airbus narrow-body jets and 40 of the A350 wide-body.

The agreement was welcomed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who believe that this landmark deal demonstrates the UK’s thriving aerospace sector.

This deal will support wing assembly jobs, helping to ramp up Airbus’ production of the single aisle A320 aircraft and which will bring an additional 450 manufacturing jobs and over £100m of investment to Broughton, as they announced last year.

The large A350 aircraft are exclusively powered by Rolls-Royce XWB engines, which are assembled and tested in Derby.

India is a major economic power projected to be the world’s third-largest economy with a quarter of a billion middle-class consumers by 2050.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “This landmark deal between Air India, Airbus and Rolls-Royce demonstrates that the sky’s the limit for the UK’s thriving aerospace sector.”

“It will create better-paid jobs and new opportunities in manufacturing hubs from Derby to Wales, so we can grow the economy and support our agenda to level up – helping to deliver on my five priorities for the country.”

“The UK is already a top investment destination, and by building trade ties with growing economic powers like India we will ensure UK businesses remain at the forefront of global growth and innovation.”

The UK is currently negotiating a free trade agreement that would boost our £29.6 billion trading relationship.

“This is a significant win for the UK’s world-leading aerospace sector and one which will help to secure thousands of highly skilled jobs across the country and drive economic growth. It’s a shot in the arm for UK exports as we aim to sell £1 trillion of goods and services a year to the world by the end of the decade”, said Kemi Badenoch, Business and Trade Secretary MP.