Gifas presented the 2014 annual report for the French Aerospace Industries Association on 9th., April in Paris. A year which confirmed the healthy overall state of the aviation industry, which had sales of more than € 50 billion, up nearly 3% from the previous year. Results that are biased towards exports, since the sector brought a trade surplus of over 23 billion euros to France.
In terms of employment, the sector recruited 10,000 people in 2014, 3,000 less than in 2013 ; for this year, new posts will probably occur mainly in production.
Marwan LAHOUD, President of Gifas :
"We foresee about 8,000 new jobs in 2015, but with a shift, a change in the nature of the positions sought, with a transfer from design offices towards production, not only in terms of operatives, but also in terms of engineers. In other words, fewer engineers in design offices, more engineers, and above all, more operatives and technicians on production lines."
The good results for 2014 are based primarily on the dynamism of civil aviation, but the decrease in military activity worries OEM’s ( Original Equipment Manufacturers ).
Emmanuel Viellard, Chairman, French Aerospace and Defense Equipment Group (GEAD) :
"Year after year, we effectively see military activity declining. Today, it has fallen to below 20% of the entire industry. This installation of constant erosion is seen with regret. We have been able to replace it with the civil, but if it continues, we will see the disappearance of certain specialties."
Nonetheless, the outlook for the near future remains good. Orders received by the entire sector, in 2014, represented 73 billion euros, and approximately six years of production ; levels similar to those of 2013.
