ABSTRACT
The global aircraft industry encompasses a vast network of companies working either as large international conglomerates or as individual national and regional organizations. The two biggest international aircraft manufacturers are the Americanowned Boeing Aircraft Company and the European conglomerate European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), which incorporates Airbus Industries. These, together with the American giant Lockheed-Martin, BAE Systems and aerospace propulsion companies, such as Rolls-Royce and Pratt andWhitney, employ many thousands of people and have annual turnovers totalling billions of pounds.
