THE government has announced £340 million worth of investment in Airbus.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson made the announcement during a visit to Airbus’ facility in Filton last Friday, August 14.

The investment will mean the creation of 1,200 Airbus jobs, 500 of which will be in Filton. It will also create a further 5,000 in the UK supply chain.

He said: "I am delighted to announce today that the government will provide Airbus with up to £340 million of repayable launch investment for the development of the A350 extra wide body air craft.

"This is going to be an engineering, manufacturing success story. It is going to be a lot greener aircraft in which UK manufacturing and our technology and our skills are going to form an integral part."

The A350 XWB will be a lighter plane delivering environmental benefits, including a 15 percent reduction in CO2 emissions.

The A350 will have the capacity for between 270 to 350 passengers.

Lord Mandelson said the investment in Airbus would also benefit other businesses in South Gloucestershire including GKN, Rolls-Royce and BEA Systems.

Tom Williams, executive vice-president for programmes at Airbus, said: "We welcome today’s visit and we welcome the investment.

"The work that we will do is design and development here in Filton. The manufacturing will be done in the new manufacturing facility we are building in Broughton, North Wales."

Mr Williams also said the company already had 493 firm orders for A350 but this could rise to 2,500.

Mike Byfield, works convenor for Airbus Filton, said: "This is very good news for the local industry, for Airbus as a whole.

"Hopefully, this will give the government faith in the company and its future products and it is very important that they continue to support the A400M project."