Britain and the European Airbus

This book charts the political and economic history of Britain’s often problematic relationship with one of the most successful examples of European technological and industrial collaboration, the Airbus family of aircraft. Britain, with France and Germany, were the original members of the Airbus partnership, but the British government came close on three occasions to undermining the programme. However, despite official doubts about the viability of the programme, the strength of the industrial commitment to the Airbus and its evident technical and commercial success has embedded the project in UK industrial policy. After over 60 years of evolution, Airbus has become one half of a global duopoly with the American company Boeing.

Although the project has become less affected by British, German or French political interests, it has become the subject of a bitter transatlantic trade dispute over the appropriate role of government in the development of commercial aerospace projects. The next decade will require a careful balancing of international trade policy and investment in carbon-neutral technological innovation.