Originally Posted by
Alan Baker
Good luck to Airbus in setting up and bringing on stream a new, duplicate, wing building facility elsewhere between now and next March. They cannot transfer equipment or personnel from the existing operation as they need to maintain full production to meet their delivery schedules. As for setting up in the US or China, that seems to be a gamble as they don't know what the tariff situation may be in future (especially the US!). An operation in the EU would see protracted squabbling between France, Germany and Spain over where it was to be located before any work started! You can bet that there will be pressure from Airbus on EU governments to do a deal as they do not want this unnecessary expense, as there will be from companies like Ford whose biggest market in Europe is the UK, but who do not build a single vehicle in the UK.
Thing is, airbus is not trying to set up something until march, they just said that they work with their supply chain to start stock piling material so that any border disruptions will not disrupt the production in the short run. In the medium run however, yes, they are of course looking at moving the wing production out of the UK. It certainly won't happen until march, and it certainly won't stop all at once, but rather fade out over time as other facilities come online. China is a logical choice for some of the production, as it cuts down transport lead times for their local end production line there.