Boeing in the UK
We’ve partnered with the UK since before the Second World War. Over the course of a relationship that spans more than 80 years, we have grown to a highly-skilled workforce of over 4,000 people across 30 locations.
We have the Prosperity Agreement, a long-term initiative with the UK Government founded in 2016, which delivers significant economic benefit to the UK, and is focused on supply chain, exports, skills, sustainability, capability and innovation.
Boeing is woven into the fabric of the UK’s aerospace and wider industrial ecosystem, including our deep collaboration with the UK Government, long-term research partnerships with six universities and a diverse network of over 950 domestic suppliers.
Boeing has spent over £13.7bn with UK supply chain since 2015.
Boeing UK is headed by Maria Laine, President, Boeing UK, Ireland and the Nordics.
More than 450 Boeing aircraft are operated in the UK. This includes over 120 Boeing Chinook, Apache, Poseidon and C-17 defence aircraft that provide battle-winning, life-saving capabilities to the UK armed forces. There is ongoing heavy modification work in Birmingham to convert 737s into the RAF’s future Airborne Early Warning and Control fleet.
A machine operative at the Boeing Sheffield factory
Our economic impact in the UK
A Chinook at the RIAT airshow
Over £300 million direct investment has been made in the UK by Boeing since 2015, including three major infrastructure projects, helping to grow the local aerospace sector, create jobs and drive innovation for mutual benefit. This includes £50M at RAF Lossiemouth, £40M on the company’s first European factory in Sheffield and £88M for a new hangar and freighter conversion facility at London Gatwick.
- Over 450 commercial and defence aircraft operate in the UK
- £13.7bn spent with our UK supply chain since 2015
- £12.8M spend focused on community, higher education, STEM and veteran support projects since 2015
- £300M direct investments made into the UK since 2015
- £110m+ invested in UK innovation since 2015
- 1300+ SMEs have attended Boeing supply chain events since 2016.
- 400+ early careers participants since 2016
- 22 UK companies have participated in Boeing’s accelerator programme, Aerospace Xelerated, since 2020
- Six strategic long-term partnerships with universities across England and Scotland
- In 2018 Boeing’s Office of UK Industrial Collaboration (OUKIC) opened in Seattle to help companies export from the UK to Boeing in the U.S.
Our UK industrial footprint
- Boeing Sheffield is the company’s first manufacturing site in Europe and produces components for 737 aircraft.
- Boeing Defence UK, closely located to MOD Abbey Wood in Bristol, plays a key role in the significant defence aviation ecosystem that exists in the South West. The Boeing Defence UK workforce is spread across many other locations, from RAF Lossiemouth to Gosport.
- Birmingham Airport is home to the only E-7 Wedgetail modification line in the world, where a blended team of over 100 Boeing and STS Aviation employees are converting three 737NGs to become the Royal Air Force’s future Airborne Early Warning and Control fleet.
- Boeing is delivering aircrew and engineering training support for the RAF’s C-17 fleet at the UK C-17 International Training Centre (ITC) in Farnborough. Combined with our presence at RAF Brize Norton, more than 100 Boeing employees and apprentices are supporting every aspect of the UK C-17 mission.
- The Apache Academy is co-located across two sites, Middle Wallop and Wattisham, where the British Army’s AH-64E Apache fleet is based. The Academy has been created to deliver groundcrew, aircrew and maintenance training services offered across both sites.
- Nine P-8A Poseidon’s are based at RAF Lossiemouth and housed in The Atlantic Building, a £100 million joint investment by Boeing and the Ministry of Defence, purpose built to provide support and training for the aircraft and crews that fly and operate them.
- Working with our UK-based suppliers and partners, including Standard Aero in Gosport and Almondbank, Perth along with Leonardo in Yeovil and Thales UK in Crawley, more than 450 people across the UK are employed in support of the RAF’s Chinook force.
- Boeing has invested £88 million in a new hangar for commercial aviation maintenance customers at London Gatwick. The hangar also houses a new Boeing Converted Freighter line. Near the site of the new hangar, Boeing Flight Services is the largest Boeing training site outside the United States.
- The 56,000 sq. ft Boeing Global Distribution Centre in Burgess Hill is a smart warehouse that receives and ships aircraft parts to our civil and defence customers, in the UK and globally, and is supported by a team of quality inspectors and engineers.
Boeing Sheffield
P-8A Poseidons at RAF Lossiemouth
Our investment in UK research and technology
Aircraft technicians at London Gatwick MRO
- Boeing co-founded the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with the University of Sheffield in 2001. The machining and materials research campus was crucial in Boeing’s decision to build its first manufacturing site in Europe nearby.
- The Metallics Research Centre is the first initiative from the Boeing Scotland Alliance, a new £11.8 million R&D programme with the Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland to explore novel manufacturing technologies for metallic components in a facility next to Glasgow Airport.
- Boeing also has strategic partnerships with six UK universities across a range of projects.
Boeing in the UK (PDF)