Britten Norman to bring aerospace manufacturing back to Isle of Wight

By Peter Davison

13 June 2023

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Britten-Norman will invest in new jigs and tooling to create two additional production lines at Bembridge

Aerospace firm Britten Norman has confirmed plans to bring aircraft manufacturing back to its historic home on the Isle of Wight.

A zero-emissions Islander aircraft will be built at Bembridge and launched in 2026.

The British SME has been manufacturing its aircraft in Eastern Europe since the late 1960s.

Read more: MOD extends vehicle contract with Coventry-based NP Aerospacehttps://thebusinessmagazine.co.uk/news/manufacturing/mod-extends-vehicle-contract-with-coventry-based-np-aerospace/

Britten-Norman will invest in new jigs and tooling to create two additional production lines at Bembridge as well as modernising production and decarbonising the site with new sustainable energy initiatives.

The company will launch a recruitment drive over the summer, with jobs for aircraft fitters and technicians, production engineering and supply chain operatives. The expansion will also create new traineeship and apprenticeship opportunities.

“The project is a great success story for the British aircraft manufacturing industry. I am very proud to be involved in this next chapter at Britten-Norman” commented Chief Executive, William Hynett OBE.

Britten-Norman will retain its 34,000sq ft stronghold at Solent Airport Daedalus, home of the final assembly line for the Islander.

The site also provides OEM aircraft refurbishment, EASA Part 145 MRO services, international field servicing, and specialist avionics and mission systems integration.

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.