Airbus To Expand U.S. Manufacturing

International aircraft manufacturer Airbus spent $14.4 billion last year on airplane parts, materials and services in the U.S..  A little under half that money,  $6.1 billion, was spent in the company’s top U.S. supplier state, Ohio.

Airbus intends to nearly double purchasing in the U.S. to $20 billion by 2020 to meet growing global demand for more fuel-efficient jets.

Later today (September 22),  Airbus officials will meet with representatives from nearly 100 Ohio companies including GE Aviation and Parker Aerospace at a procurement conference at the nonprofit National Composite Center in Kettering.

“Airbus likes what it sees in Ohio and the more business we can do here, the better,” Airbus exec Dave Williams said.

Working more in the U.S. also helps airbus avoid the exchange rate crunch–where the company sells the vast majority of its products in U.S. dollars, but still buys about 50 percent of components in higher value euros.

“There is an exposure to the exchange rate movements and part of Airbus’ strategy to mitigate that risk is to buy more and more in U.S. dollarized zones,” Williams said.