The annual general meeting of the WoE branch was held on Monday 21 January 2008 at the Holiday Inn, Filton. The well-attended meeting heard Chairman Andrew Shakeshaft give a concise report on the branch activities and formally thanked the committee and members for their support throughout his first year of office. Honorary secretary and treasurer Peter Barkwill presented the financial report followed by Steve Cole who gave the Council representatives report.

Following the AGM, over eighty members and guests sat down to a supper. The evening's activities concluded with a fascinating talk by Duncan Greenman, Head of People Development - Engineering, for Airbus UK. He began by charting the history of Airbus from its beginnings in 1967 to the present day. They make twelve different types of aircraft and employ over 57,000 people. Airbus has an annual turnover of some 26 billion euros, with an individual plane costing as much as 100 million US dollars! The company has just delivered its 5000th aircraft since 1974 and is now the market leader over Boeing.

Duncan explained how the aircraft are manufactured in several European countries. The UK makes the wings and undercarriage, France and Germany make the fuselage and Spain the tail. Assembly takes place in Hamburg and Toulouse. They use a fleet of five specially modified aircraft called Belugas to transport the parts. However with the new Airbus A380, the components are so big, they have to be transported by sea and then by road on huge trailers. Airbus has sixteen sites throughout Europe and 2500 suppliers, 400 of them in the UK.

He described how every Airbus aircraft feels the same to fly so pilots can quickly convert from one to another. This gives airlines much greater flexibility and significant cost savings.

The talk concluded with two remarkable videos. The first showed an Airbus A380 wing being tested to destruction. The second showed how all the components were transported and assembled to make an Airbus A380.

Photo: Andy Shakeshaft of IOQ and John Barrit from WRAP.

Vice-Chairwoman Val Raydon gave the vote of thanks for a highly entertaining, informative and enjoyable talk by a very accomplished speaker.