MILLIONS of pounds are to be spent at Airbus’s Broughton factory, near Chester, to help safeguard 1,750 jobs there.

The £28.66m investment by the Welsh Assembly Government will support the development of composite wing capability and advanced manufacturing skills at the site.

It will boost skills and enable the creation of a facility for the assembly of wings made from composite materials at Broughton for a new generation of eco-friendly airliners.

The project is a massive step forward towards the use of the carbon composites in new wing manufacture and is being hailed as strengthening the role of Deeside as a base for high-technology industries.

The first Airbus jetliner to use the lightweight materials will be the wide-bodied A350 which has racked up nearly 500 orders. Work on that project is expected to start shortly.

The investment is a major boost for Broughton because it helps to secure the jobs of more than 6,000 people who work at the centre of wing-making excellence. More than a quarter of them are expected to be employed in the development of carbon composites and its eventual use in wing manufacture on the Deeside site. First Minister Rhodri Morgan called it a “major investment” that guaranteed Airbus’s partnership with Wales “for years, if not decades, to come”.

He said: “We also celebrate the fact Wales and the UK will now be moving into the mainstream in composites manufacturing – not just playing at composites, but moving to the top end of hi-tech composite manufacturing technology.

“Airbus is an integral part of the economy. This investment – and the move into composites – reinforces and enhances our reputation still further, with high skills and high-value products.”