The president of the Andalucía Aerospace cluster, Antonio Gómez-Guillamón, and the Regional Minister of Industry, Energy and Mines of the Andalusian Regional Government, Jorge Paradela, today presented the Andalusian Aerospace Sector Report for the financial year 2023 at the Andalucía stand in Farnborough International Airshow, which has shown an aggregate turnover of 2,743 million euros and 14,440 direct jobs.
These figures represent a 16.4% increase in turnover and a 10% increase in employment compared to the previous year, with an additional 387 million in sales and 1,304 new workers in the last year. A growth that, in the words of Jorge Paradela, ‘not only demonstrates the strength of the Andalusian aerospace industry, but also its capacity to adapt’.
In this line, the Regional Minister said that ‘sustainability will continue to be a key factor, driving innovation in new technologies and sustainable aviation fuels (SAF)’. A challenge that, he added, ‘opens up new opportunities and synergies between two of the pillars of the Andalusian industrial fabric: aerospace and energy’. Paradela stressed that ‘defence investment will increase in the short term, which benefits the military aerospace sector with an important presence in Andalusia, but we must be prepared not only to reinforce existing lines, but also to get the greatest possible workload in new European defence projects and systems’
The president of the Andalucía Aerospace cluster, Antonio Gómez-Guillamón, pointed out that 2023 figures reflect ‘a greater workload for our companies, in parallel with the increase in commercial aviation orders and the continuity of defence programmes in which Andalusian firms are participating, such as the C295 and the A400M’. This statistical report, coordinated by Andalucía Aerospace with the support of the Regional Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mines of the Andalusian Government, offers a complete picture of the Andalusian aerospace sector, made up of 147 companies. Most of them are located in Seville (106), Cadiz (22) and Malaga (13). Aerostructures remain the main activity, with 53 companies specialising in this industrial activity, followed by engineering and consultancy (with 37 companies), so that aircraft structures account for 48% of the sector’s sales.
If we look at the turnover by programmes of aerospace companies in Andalusia (without the OEM companies), 45% corresponds to the Defence sector and 55% to civil aviation. And by market segment, 75% of turnover belongs to aeronautical industry activities, 17% to aviation services (including MRO, crew training and aerial work) and 7% to Space, a sector in which aggregate turnover has increased by 35%.
In terms of employment, the Andalusian aerospace sector is once again showing a positive growth trend in 2023, which in the last ten years has only been reduced by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. A sector that has generated a total of 14,440 direct jobs in 2023, of which 23% are female. This is one of the main strengths of the Andalusian aeronautical sector, a century-old industry with a very high degree of specialisation in terms of its highly qualified workforce, which tips the balance in Andalusia’s favour for international firms to set up in our region, creating in turn new jobs,’ says the president of Andalucía Aerospace, referring to cases such as the Swiss jet company Pilatus, which will set up a manufacturing plant in Seville.
A strategic and growing sector
The data in the report presented today confirms the growth capacity of the aerospace industry in Andalusia, which already represents 12.84% of Andalusia’s industrial GDP. As a novelty, one of the data offered for the first time in the report is the R&D investment in the aerospace sector in Andalusia. Andalusian companies with R&D activity invested an average of 8.4% of their turnover. ‘The development of cutting-edge technology and the acquisition of new capabilities by companies is a competitive advantage that helps us to position and differentiate ourselves technologically, so from the cluster we promote networking and joint participation in R&D projects to grow through innovation,’ concludes the president of Andalucía Aerospace. The turnover of the Andalusian aerospace sector has grown by 33% in the last decade, and in terms of exports Andalusia remains the second largest exporting Spanish region, with France and Germany being the main destination countries in 2023.
The outlook for the future is also positive. The upcoming start-up of the Unmanned Systems Test Centre (CEUS) in Huelva, the Advanced Manufacturing Centre in Cadiz and the Seville Center for Innovation in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Urban Air Mobility (CUAM), together with the Spanish Space Agency, will allow us to keep on growing in niche markets with great potential, such as Space, drones and Advanced Air Mobility.
