Agreement will bolster aerospace industry in South Africa

DENEL Aerostructures, Aerosud Aviation and Airbus signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday at Denel’s Kempton Park College in Bonaero Park.

This three-way collaborative agreement aims to strengthen and sharpen the global competitiveness of South Africa’s aerospace manufacturing industry and its research and development capabilities.

Under this strengthened relationship, Denel, Aerosud and Airbus will jointly develop industrial projects which will enable South African partners to jointly bid for larger scale manufacturing work packages on Airbus commercial airliner programmes than they have been able to secure independently of each other.

Aerosud Holdings chairman, Paul Potgieter, said the new working arrangement “breaks the mould for South African industry”.

Airbus vice president international cooperation, Simon Ward, said the agreement went beyond supporting Denel and Aerosud. “It bolsters the South African government’s strategy for the development of a vibrant and strong indigenous aerospace industry that is also globally competitive, that creates sustainable jobs and driver transformation in the sector.”

Ismail Dockrat, chief executive officer for Denel Aerostructures, said this marked a major step forward and showed that SA could participate globally. He said local companies had exceeded the expectations of Airbus. This merger will bring with it jobs, skills growth and enterprise to South Africa, said Dockrat.