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Many people may think that Bombardier's recent experience in Northern Ireland has been a thousand deaths. First, the layoffs, then the sale of control of the C series to Airbus, and now the announcement by Bombardier of the sale of its business.
The construction of aircraft on the banks of Belfast Lough began in the late 1930s. In the 1940s, the British company Shorts relocated all its activities in Northern Ireland.
Like the shipyard, Shorts in Belfast combined considerable technical virtuosity, such as an innovative vertical takeoff, with a growing appetite for grants from the Belfast and London governments. The company was owned by the state for many years and then privatized to Canadian society in 1989.
After 30 years, Bombardier seems to have decided to regroup in its business jet business.
The company employs 3,600 people in the four plants in Northern Ireland (Belfast, Newtownabbey, Dunmurry and Newtownards).
Jobs at Bombardier tend to tick the appropriate boxes in terms of industrial strategy in Northern Ireland, as wages and productivity levels are above average in Northern Ireland.
The company also accounts for a significant share of all exports and R & D in all manufacturing activities in Northern Ireland.
At the UK scale, it has been estimated that every job in an aerospace business confers another job elsewhere in the economy, through work in the supply chain and in expenses. additional consumption generated by aerospace workers.
Bombardier therefore supports a total of 7,200 jobs in the regional economy.
We now have a seller but do we have a buyer? The global aviation market is dominated by the two major players – the US Boeing and the European Airbus. Boeing is probably concerned about the difficulties following his accidents with the Boeing 737MAX.
Whatever the case may be, in 2018, Boeing has launched a partnership with the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. While Airbus has taken control of the C Series, now the A220, I guess it would not want to buy the rest of Bombardier in Northern Ireland.
This implicitly implies that the buyer is probably one of the newest and newest players in the aviation industry, which is not without risk for the long-term sustainability of the business. in Northern Ireland. Spirit AeroSystems is a possibility.
It is an offshoot of Boeing, its aerostructures division of Wichita, Kansas, as well as British Aerospace (BAE) purchases.
Closer to home, there is GKN. The roots of this company go back to the fact that iron was working in the industrial revolution of Wales, but more recently, it has embarked on automotive engineering and defense, especially with the purchase of the Dutch aerospace company Fokker. Uncertainty, unfortunately, will likely continue to affect both the Belfast operation and global aviation more generally.
Two things could benefit Bombardier-Shorts. First, to the extent that the British government or any deconcentrated future government so wishes, there is a possibility of subsidy or aid.
Second, attempts to transfer aircraft manufacturing to very low-wage areas have not always been successful. One of the outlets of the factories of Northern Ireland will be the particular expertise of the workforce in complex technologies.
- Esmond Birnie is a senior economist at Ulster University Business School.
Belfast Telegraph
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