City will host major aerospace event

Wolverhampton is to host the biggest aerospace industry conference in the Midlands next year, it has been revealed.

It is the first time the Midlands Aerospace Alliance (MAA) event has ever been held in the city and is seen as a major coup – for the last two years it has been hosted by aero engines giant Rolls-Royce at Derby.

MAA chief executive Andrew Mair said the decision to hold the organisation's annual conference in Wolverhampton recognised the importance of the city in terms of its aerospace industry – it is base to major operations for aircraft component manufacturers Moog and UTC, as well as smaller suppliers.

He said it also followed close working links between the MAA, Wolverhampton Council and the two companies at the Farnborough International Airshow, where the local authority has been working to attract more aerospace suppliers to move to the city.

"Wolverhampton has got its act together in the way it works with aerospace companies such as UTC and Moog," said Mr Mair. "It also recognises that our industry has local roots."

The annual conference is expected to attract more than 150 delegates from across the region, from small component manufacturers to major international companies such as Rolls-Royce and GKN. The announcement came during an MAA meeting for local enterprise partnerships and regional aerospace alliances from as far apart as Newcastle and Bristol, held at the GTG Training centre at Wednesfield yesterday.

Aimed at co-ordinating efforts to support the UK's aerospace industry, it was being held as part of Wolverhampton Business Week, a series of events aimed at raising the profile of the city on the regional and national stage.

But Councillor Roger Lawrence, leader of Wolverhampton City Council which is spearheading Business Week, said the MAA national conference next March would benefit the whole area: "It is excellent news, and recognition of the work going on with our aerospace sector, but we also have component firms in Sandwell and Walsall that are part of the supply chain so this will be good for the whole Black Country.

"As a sector expected to grow over the next couple of decades, aerospace has to be seen as one of the best bets."