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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 2684.PDF
WORKING WEEK COUNTRY PROFILE Spain EU's open skies policy sends Spanish aerospace industry to new heights Spain's aerospace and air transport industry is enjoying a new opti mism. Huge reorganisation and expansion in recent years, includ ing the liberalisation of the coun try's internal air transport system, has led to greater competition and increased demand. In addition, the European Union's Open Skies pol icy has also helped transform the country's air transport fortunes. Confidence in Spain was high lighted by the decision by Airbus Military last year to bring the final assembly line of the A400M trans port to the Andalusian capital, Seville. Andalusia is one example of how the regions have influenced Spain's wider aerospace industry. It includes Aeropolis, Europe's largest aeronautical technology park, and the local authorities have made more than €100 million ($135 million) of financial aid available to the aerospace industry, as well as reached agreements with local universities to encourage pro fessional education and research and development. Spain's other leading aerospace region is the Basque country. Com panies, financiers and politicians Spain's flag carrier Iberia stayed profitable after the 11 September attacks have created an industry in little more than a decade. Engineering firm Sener has developed its own turbine technology and brought together Spanish state holding com pany INI/SEPI and Rolls-Royce to create ITP to participate in Eurojet, the consortium building the Eurofighter Typhoon EJ200 engine. Away from the regions, Madrid is Spain's other major player. Firms such as EADS Casa, Indra and Sener all operate from the capital. Boeing also has a presence in Madrid, hav ing opened a new R&D centre in 2002. Boeing opened an R&D cen tre in the Catalan capital Barcelona in the same year. Population: 40.3 million Language: Castilian Spanish is widely spoken and is Spain's most common spoken language. Catalan, Galician and Basque are also official languages. Major cities: Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Malaga, Bilbao, Valencia. GDP: €885.5 billion GDP capita per head: €16,560 Currency: euro Inflation: 2.9% Work: jobs in Spain are open to all European Union citizens. The restructuring of Spain's aero space industry has led to companies teaming up with other players on a national, European and global level. Spanish companies are partners in Airbus, Arianespace, the Eurofighter consortium and EADS. The latter's Spanish arm, EADS Casa, although employing only 7,000 of EADS's total workforce of 109,000, is fast becoming a major player following a string of recent deals. In May 2003 EADS Casa signed a €20 billion order for 180 A400Ms - a project that will directly employ between 1,000 and 1,200 people within EADS in Spain and create 10,000 Spanish jobs indirectly. This year EADS Casa secured an $87.4 million deal with Lockheed Martin for two CN-235 maritime surveil lance aircraft. It was also selected by the Australian air force for a con tract to supply a fleet of five Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transports to replace Boeing 707 tankers. On the commercial aviation side, huge expansions at Madrid and Barcelona airports will see 2005 pas senger levels double those of 2002. Next year Madrid's Barajas airport capacity will be 70 million, while Barcelona's will peak at 40 million. Despite being one of the few air lines which managed to stay prof itable after the 11 September terror ist attacks, Spain's flagship airline Iberia expects a challenge to its dominance by low-cost airlines sniffing around for a slice of what is a lucrative cake. The increasingly busy Spanish skies are set to be more competitive than ever. Know Airbus As the world's leading aircraft manufacturer, Airbus employs some 50,000 people from over 80 different countries. ...and know how good you could be To find out more, visit: www.airbus-careers.com www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 14-20 DECEMBER 2004 61
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