Britain "remains part of our family": Airbus CEO

[BLAGNAC, France] Airbus CEO Tom Enders pledged on Tuesday that the aircraft manufacturer's British operations would remain "integral and indispensable" to the company despite a vote to quit the European Union.

Speaking at the opening of the company's new global headquarters in Blagnac, near Toulouse in southwest France, Enders said that "Britain remains a member of our family" and home to "some of the most competitive sites of Airbus in the world".

Around 10,000 of Airbus' 135,000 employees worldwide are located in the UK, and the company claims on its website that its operations in north Wales and northwest England support up to 100,000 jobs in its supply chain.

Around 1,000 wings for the European aerospace giant's civil aircraft are built in Britain each year before being shipped by sea for assembly in France.

Airbus had already said on Friday, the day after British voters backed a referendum to leave the EU, that it would seek to minimise the effect of Brexit although it was "disappointed" with the result.

While it promised to continue its UK operations, the group said that it would investigate the long-term consequences for its British sites.

Airbus was also one of a swathe of French businesses that begged the UK public to vote to stay in an open letter published in several newspapers days before Thursday's ballot.

"We love you, but we are in business not just in love," the letter published in the Sun, Telegraph and Times dailies read.

"We invest because you are a leader in Europe's single market and we all trade freely within the EU."

AFP

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