The aviation industry in Northern Ireland has seen many changes since the Belfast aircraft manufacturer Shorts Brothers won its first order to build a plane in 1909 from the Wright Brothers.
Aircraft are no longer constructed in Northern Ireland but Belfast continues to play a central role in the global aviation industry because of its relationship with the Canadian regional and business aircraft manufacturer, Bombardier Aerospace.
It acquired Shorts, the world's oldest aircraft manufacturer, in 1989 from the UK government; at the time it was a loss-making operation in the red by almost £47 million (€76.5 million). In the last 12 years, Bombardier has invested more than £1 billion (€1.6 billion) in the North and has grown its operations across three plants to become the largest public sector employee.
More than 7,300 people in Northern Ireland depend on the aviation industry for employment and previous losses have been turned into significant pre-tax profits, averaging more than £100 million per annum.
Last year alone, Bombardier created 1,400 additional jobs in Northern Ireland and although the new contract to supply 50 aircraft to Deutsche Structure Finance will not increase employment, it could boost production levels.
According to Mr Michael Ryan, vice-president and general manager of operations in Belfast, the order is vitally important to the Northern Ireland plants, not least because a series of industrial disputes in the last 12 months rocked their reputation within the Bombardier family.
For the first time in the group's history an industrial dispute halted production at the Belfast plants. Not only did it cost the operation its reputation, Mr Ryan said, it cost them contracts.
"We lost opportunities for new business because of the industrial action, because of the nature of the business we are in we missed out on two Bombardier programmes that would have meant work for Belfast.
"We are lucky that Bombardier has new product development cycles every year which created further opportunities for us but the industrial action put us behind schedules, which held up particular programmes across the group," Mr Ryan added.
Bombardier's Belfast plants have substantial partnership roles in the group's aircraft programmes, although 30 per cent of the Northern Ireland operation's turnover is derived from outside the group.
The company has a long-standing relationship with Boeing and it has a substantial nacelles business that supplies the likes of Rolls Royce.
The Belfast operation's external business has been subject to the volatile international aerospace market. In 1996 one of its major customers Fokker Aircraft BV was declared bankrupt. Bombardier had supplied Fokker 100/70 with wing production ends and when it went out of business 900 jobs were lost in Belfast.
It is the major partnership role with Bombardier programmes that underlines the importance of the latest £1-billion contract for Northern Ireland. Mr Ryan said the order for 50 aircraft could boost production levels throughout the Belfast plants, safeguarding employment for thousands of workers. "In Northern Ireland we design and manufacture aircraft fuselages, engine nacelles and advanced composite structures. We produce major structures for eight Bombardier programmes including the Global Express, Challenger, Learjet 45 and Continental business jets.
"Anything that you see built in Northern Ireland is also designed in Northern Ireland and that also includes structures for the regional jet 100/200/700 and 900 series and the Dash 8." The fact that Belfast is Bombardier Aerospace's largest aerostructures supplier in Europe should mean that a significant percentage of the work generated by the £1billion contract will come through the North.
This would also be good news for the group's suppliers in Northern Ireland and the Republic. Bombardier sources more than £30 million a year on the island and is currently looking to increase its supplier base.
But Mr Ryan said that the Belfast operation had to bid for work from the new contract like every other Bombardier supplier, external and internal.
"Belfast is a centre of excellence within the Bombardier group but we also have to be competitive and we constantly have to improve our competitiveness.
"We have put the industrial dispute behind us, we have worked hard to mend relationships and we now have a four-year pay deal with our employees which gives us stability going forward," he said.
"But we also have the constant challenge of maintaining our skills base in Northern Ireland and we have issues with the cost of electricity which affects how competitive we can be." He said the immediate challenge for Bombardier's Belfast operation is to increase its productivity.
Mr Ryan said the business jet market is one of the fastest-growing in the aviation sector and the growth in regional airlines throughout Europe will continue to support the production of new aircraft.
He does not believe there are any significant economic indicators to point to a slowdown in the sector. "It may have softened slightly but we have not been hard-hit.
"I am positive about the future because Bombardier will continue to reinvest in Northern Ireland but we must ensure we remain competitive in the market while growing volumes. We have an opportunity to build on," Mr Ryan said.
