The Andalusian aerospace sector closes the year 2022 with a higher turnover and employment than in 2021. The total turnover of the sector in 2022 stands at 2,356 million €, with an increase of 17% over the previous year (2,002 million €). Similarly, employment will also grow, with 13,136 direct jobs, which is 8% more than in 2021.
Despite this growth, compared to the pre-pandemic data, the current turnover is still 17% below the 2019 turnover data and employment 9% below.
“The growth could have been even higher if we had not had some adverse factors such as the war in Ukraine, inflation and the supply crisis.” This was conveyed by the president of Andalucía Aerospace, Antonio Gómez-Guillamón, and its managing director, Juan Román, who held an event with the specialized media at the Andalusian Confederation of Entrepreneurs (CEA). During the meeting, the results of the 2022 report of the Andalusian aerospace sector prepared by the Andalucia Aerospace cluster were presented.
After the drop in activity in 2020, due to the temporary cessation of air traffic caused by Covid 19, the year 2022 has been a period of growth with a progressive recovery of air traffic, although it has been lower in transoceanic routes. This has led to an increase in the workload for Andalusian aerospace companies as a greater number of orders for commercial aircraft have been received.
In the military or defense sector, the war in Ukraine has shown the importance and need for States to protect themselves in order to guarantee the rights of these countries, their citizens and national security. For this reason, defense budgets are being increased, which is an important boost for the Andalusian aerospace sector, with such a long tradition in this military segment.
Programs such as the A400M or the C295, in which our region has a very important participation and final assembly of these aircrafts, are being highlighted. Andalusia is already working on the C295 ordered by the Indian government and the first flight of this aircraft with SAF fuel has been carried out.
The Andalusian aerospace industry has shown resilience in the face of the difficulties generated by the international context; maintaining the number of 143 companies that make up the sector. However, they appealed to the need for the Administrations to support more than ever the sector, strategic for Andalusia, which contributes 1.24% to the overall Andalusian GDP, 9.19% to the industrial GDP and leads the export rankings.
This support to the sector must be marked by the implementation of the Andalusian Aerospace Strategy 2020-2027 which, they insisted, includes the necessary actions for the development of the sector. This Plan, they recalled, contemplates investments amounting to 572 million euros to promote technologies, certifications, new products and markets, training and, in general, to strengthen the aerospace ecosystem.
Forecasts
With the designation of Seville as the headquarters of the future Spanish Space Agency, the space sector is expected to take off in the region. The Andalusian sector, which is very strong in the aeronautical segment, is committed to boosting the space segment by taking advantage of synergies with existing technological capabilities. The most important initiative promoted by the cluster is the launch of the Andalusat project, a satellite system that will be developed using, preferably, the technological capabilities of Andalusian companies.
Another priority segment in the region is the development of Unmanned Aerial Systems, UAS or also known as drones, and Advanced Aerial Mobility, based on vertical take-off and landing electric aircraft. In these segments, innovative public procurement can be the necessary instrument to develop enabling digital technologies.
In addition, the start-up of CEUS, in the province of Huelva, will become the largest unmanned flight test center in Europe. It will work in coordination with the INTA experimentation center in El Arenosillo. It is expected to be operational in early 2024, making it an important asset for the sector.
The military segment is also a priority for the region. In this sense, the Andalusian cluster supports the initiative of the Regional Government of Andalusia to create a Defense Node that includes the regional industry of this sector.
It is expected that Andalusia will receive workload from the Eurodrone program, which can be an important reinforcement for the military segment of our region.
Another major program, the Future Combat Air Combat System (FCAS), has entered Phase 1B, initiating engineering activities in terms of systems and demonstrators. Our companies are beginning to position themselves to be eligible for future projects in a program that will take decades to complete.
In the province of Cadiz, the AIRBUS plant at CBC (Cadiz) is concentrated and expanded and strengthened with a growth plan. The maintenance of jobs is very good news.
The Andalucía Aerospace cluster has more than 90 member companies and is experiencing a strong growth in the number of members and activities. The perception of the value of the unity of the sector and the defense of its interests is increasing. In relation to innovation, consortiums between companies are being promoted to launch R&D projects that lead to improvements in production processes. The cluster has executed its first innovation projects as an Innovative Business Group (AEI).
The cluster representatives also pointed out that next week an important delegation of Andalusian companies will be present at the Paris Air Show, the most important aerospace event in Europe. They are working to ensure that the “Andalucía Aerospace” brand is recognized worldwide and, along these lines, internationalization is becoming increasingly important for the cluster and all the companies that make it up.
Source: Andalucía Aerospace
