THE FUTURE of aerospace in Filton is looking brighter than ever following the news that Airbus has struck a £326 million deal with a major airline.

The firm is set to build 11 A330 aircraft for Garuda Indonesia, an order that should boost the aviation industry locally and nationally and safeguard hundreds of jobs in the area.

The Filton site, which currently has 4,500 workers, designs the planes while the Broughton plant in Wales manufactures its wings.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced the deal on his trade tour of East and South East Asia.

He said securing this contract was good news for the country as a whole.

"It will safeguard jobs at the design facility near Bristol and the manufacturing plant in Broughton in north Wales," he said.

"It is testament to the expertise of Airbus's British workforce and a vote of confidence in Britain's manufacturing base. And I hope it will offer other British companies involved in the £1.5 billion supply chain, the opportunity to secure more contracts."

Airbus employs over 10,000 people directly and 100,000 more across the extended UK supply chain.

Executive vice president for programmes at Airbus, Tom Williams CBE, added: "This is a boost for Airbus in the UK where the wings are designed and assembled and the landing gear and fuel systems are developed and tested.

"Asia is a key market for Airbus, and we expect there to be significant demand from the region in the future which can only be good news for the UK and for Airbus globally.

"The A330 is an immensely popular aircraft. In 2011 alone, 11 existing A330 customers placed repeat orders just as Garuda Indonesia has done today."

Airbus recorded the most profitable year in its history in 2011 with 1,419 net orders and profits rising by 34 per cent.

Last month, the aircraft manufacturer kicked off the construction of a new state-of-the-art engineering and technology business park due to open its doors in 2013.