Farnborough Aerospace Consortium is flying the flag for Hampshire’s aerospace sector

For the past 25 years, the Farnborough Aerospace Consortium has been flying the flag for the Aerospace sector in the South East and East of England.

When it started out it was part funded by the regional development agencies with the not-for-profit organisation aiming to assist the supply chain both in the UK and internationally.

A change in government in 2010 saw the end of these RDAs, forcing the FAC to evolve its approach and balance the books without RDA support. It did this by increasing its investment into technology with the support the National Aerospace Technology Exploration programme, becoming part government funded and part industry funded.

The consortium now supports more than 250 organisations across more than 18 different sectors, with further growth plans in the future.

Last year, Alan Fisher took over the reins as CEO. An industry veteran of more than 40 years, Alan’s career includes running two aerospace companies, working for a national trade association and working as an aerospace specialist for the Department of International Trade.

Alan explained that since he took over, his focus has been on promoting the FAC to both local and national government along with the industry.

With his leadership starting as the pandemic was trailing off, he told us one of his key areas of focus at the moment is real time events, including meet the company events with Airbus in Stevenage with further events in the planning stage with BAE Systems in Rochester, Gulfstream and Surrey Satellites. He explained his aim is to “Get members in front of customers”.

Farnborough Air Show. Credit: MilborneOne, CC BY-SA 3.0

Farnborough has an extensive Aerospace history, with Alan describing it as “the birthplace of aviation and aerospace in the UK”. The area hosts one of the main trade shows in the sector, The Farnborough Air Show, every two years.

When this returned after its Covid-enforced hiatus last year, it played host to another element in his strategy, with the consortium signing three memoranda of understanding with the Ohio Aerospace Institute and Dayton in the US and the Aviation Valley Cluster in Poland.

Alan said: “The aerospace industry is global, so it’s important that we link up and work with equivalent organisations around the globe. It’s all about global business and helping companies network, link up and win business around the world.”

This has continued into 2023, with the FAC re-joining the European Aerospace Cluster Partnership in February. Closer to home, the FAC has joined cross-sector decarbonisation initiative The Solent Cluster.

“At some point aircraft are going to be hydrogen-fuelled, either with fuel cells or with hydrogen as the fuel itself. This will require a lot of technology development and a lot of skills developed in the region. We want to be part of the voice because it’s going to be our companies that will develop the infrastructure to support hydrogen flight.”

In the Spring Budget in March it was announced that Local Enterprise Partnerships will be phased out. Alan explained that “we need to make sure that the initiatives which support our industry don’t get phased out at the same time.”

“On the positive side, however, the increase in defence funding is going to help us a lot. Along with the numerous defence companies in our region there’s a lot of companies that operate in the civil aerospace industry which have products used in defence.”

Looking forward, the FAC plans to grow as an organisation, increase its membership, extend its offering and to work closely with governments both nationally and regionally to keep Farnborough’s Aerospace sector at the focus for developing business in Hampshire.

In conclusion, Alan said: “The Farnborough Aerospace Consortium understands business pressures and is leading the way in the UK to support its companies’ growth both nationally and internationally.”