GKN Aerospace
Part of GKN
1996 GKN Westland Aerospace was incorporated to hold the Westland Aerospace subsidiary
1997 Acquired the Transmission and Structures business of Westland Helicopters; acquired the Design Services and Systems Assessment operations of Westland Industries[1]
2001 GKN acquired Boeing’s military aircraft structures plant in St Louis, a groundbreaking outsourcing deal.
2001 GKN Westland Aerospace was renamed GKN Aerospace Services Ltd
2004 GKN sold it share in its helicopter joint venture to Finmeccanica. GKN retained the ex-Westland Aerospace business, which had a leading edge in aerostructures and composite materials.
2008 Agreed to buy Airbus’s aircraft wing factory at Filton, near Bristol, for £136m. The deal included contracts for Airbus programmes already being supplied by the plant; GKN also signed up to design and produce wings for the new A350 extra wide body airliner, more than doubling its civil aircraft order book to £5.6bn. GKN planned to invest £125m over the next five years to establish Filton as a specialist in next-generation composite wings, using the Airbus A350 as a showcase. The facility employed 1,500 staff and was expected to make revenues of £375m in the first full year under its new owners.[2]
2012 Acquired Volvo Aero, the aero engine division of AB Volvo
2015 Acquired Fokker Technologies Group B.V.
2015 The aerospace unit supplied parts for the Airbus A350 and the F-35 JSF.[3]
GKN Aerospace employs over 15,000 people in over 13 countries and serves the world’s leading aircraft and aero-engine manufacturers.
See Also
- [1] Company history