ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the factors of production applicable to the aircraft industry and explores those elements of the supply-side that are genuine locational factors. It presents a brief discussion of the construction materials used by the industry followed by an outline of the role played by labour in the production process. The chapter reviews the attempts made by governments to steer aircraft plants to particular locations; in a word, regional policy. The aircraft industry is, first and foremost, a high value-added sector demonstrating high levels of productivity. As with any other manufacturing industry, the performance of the aerospace sector, whether considered on a national or corporate basis, is affected by the scale and timing of production. In historical terms, the aircraft industry evolved as a 'spin-off' of other related engineering activities and, consequently, tended to locate in the same industrial milieu even to the extent of adopting inner-city premises ill-suited for extension.
