The UK’s North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA), with more than 220 members and a combined turnover in excess of £7 billion, represents and supports about 25 percent of the UK aerospace industry. Many of its members have booths at the Farnborough Airshow in the NWAA area in Hall 1.

Adrian Moore, chairman of the Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster, one of the NWAA exhibitors, told AIN that Isle of Man’s contingent has two main objectives here at Farnborough. “First, we’re looking for suppliers, as there are certain gaps in our supply chain, for example those specializing in stock control, surface treatments and specialist, high-value metals. And second, we’re looking for new aerospace businesses that want [to base themselves in] the Isle of Man.”

Areas such as space and additive manufacturing are of particular interest, with the emphasis being more on companies that need nurturing to help them to start up and/or grow. Richard Slee, a marketing manager with the Isle of Man Department of Economic Development, said that education and training are also a major focus. “We want to dispel the myths about engineering…[for example engineers] have bigger average salaries than bankers.”

The Isle of Man has a new center of excellence for engineering opening in September.

An NWAA spokesperson told AIN that the Alliance has developed considerable technical expertise to support aerospace companies through the delivery of more than £20 million of supply chain improvement programs, such as Aerospace Supply Chain Excellence, GAMMA and the National Aerospace Technology Programme.