BREMEN – Airbus will continue to build wings in Bremen for the foreseeable future. This emerges from a key points paper on the future of the location, which was presented on Thursday by representatives of the Airbus Operations aircraft division, the Bremen Senate, IG Metall and the works council. But there will be changes.
With the agreement, the complete relocation of production is not only off the table after years of worrying. Hundreds more jobs will be created in this area in the next few years, said Jens Brüggemann, head of the works council.
“We now have a super good degree,” emphasized Economics Senator Kristina Vogt (left). It was important to Bremen that the location did not become purely a development location. “We always wanted to have production shares, with a core competence,” says Vogt. With the agreement, Bremen continues to be an important aviation location.
The paper stipulates that the construction of the wings for the A350 will remain permanently in Bremen. The demand for the modern long-haul aircraft is growing, said Airbus. In contrast, the equipment for the wings for the A330 is to be relocated to Broughton in Great Britain from 2025.
As a result, transport flights with the oversized Beluga aircraft can be dispensed with during production, said Joachim Betker, Airbus site manager in Bremen.
With the construction of landing flaps for the short-haul success model A321, new tasks would also arise for Bremen. According to Betker, Airbus is investing an amount in the tens of millions in the construction of the new production line. All A320 landing flaps are already being manufactured in the Hanseatic city.
Technologies for a hydrogen aircraft should also be researched in Bremen. A double-digit million sum will also flow into the development of the “Zero-Emission Development Centre”, which will be founded in 2021. The signing of the key issues paper is initially subject to change.
Airbus workers still have to agree. “We will be talking intensively to our colleagues over the next few weeks,” said works council chief Brüggemann.
According to Airbus, around 4,100 people work in Bremen, 2,100 of them in the civil aircraft sector. In the Europe-wide distribution of Airbus production, the assembly of wings was always located in the Hanseatic city. A shift would have been the “loss of the core competence of the Bremen Airbus site,” explained IG Metall.
Years of tug of war
Concerns about production began in 2019 when Airbus announced restructuring. The wing equipment in Bremen was to be replaced by a repair shop for aircraft parts. The union and works council opposed this. Politicians in the smallest federal state tried to bring both sides together and keep production going.
With the end of the corona measures, the economy in aircraft construction is picking up again. According to information from January, Airbus wants to create 13,000 new jobs worldwide. Bremen is also benefiting from the upswing.
© dpa-AFX | Fig.: Airbus | 02/09/2023 15:27