Airbus ищет новых партнеров в Рокфорде для расширения производства деталей самолетов

Airbus looks for new manufacturing partners in Rockford ROCKFORD, Ill. (Rockford News First) - International plane manufacturing company Airbus held its Airbus Supplier Day event in Rockford on Wednesday, inviting its leaders, local ones and stateline manufacturers to come out and discuss potential partnerships to create Airbus plane parts. With its planes and other products sold out through the next decade, and the demand only growing, Airbus has turned to cities with prominent aerospace and manufacturing roots. “We are going to be needing to deliver more airplanes per year than we’ve ever delivered, more helicopters per year than we’ve ever delivered. We’ve got record backlogs on our defense business too,” Airbus North America CEO Robin Hayes said. Visiting cities like Phoenix and Wichita, Rockford was put on the short list to help Airbus find new companies to work with. “We work closer with Airbus and identify where there are strong concentrations of airspace, meaning manufacturers across the country and Illinois is definitely a standout, especially in the Midwest and so Airbus came to us and said, ‘Hey, help us get into this community,’” Becca Gladen, the Director of Global Teams for the US Commercial Service, said. Honored to be the home of one of the company’s Airbus Supplier Days, Rockford leaders said the chance for our local businesses to get in the mix means growth all around. “Anytime that we can grow it, that means more jobs, right? More wages, more quality of life,” Angela Larson, the CEO of the Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce, said. Elected officials also in attendance shared their thoughts on the visit and what it could do for the people they serve. “It just proves the good work that Winnebago County is doing, the Rockford area is doing. We’re the sixth-largest aerospace cluster in the country, so I think they recognize and it just shows that we can attract these large companies here that want to do business in Winnebago County,” Joseph Chiarelli, the Winnebago County Chairman, said. “To have Airbus come and talk about, ‘Hey, we need help with our supply chain. We want to do more business in the greater Rockford area,’ and to have so many of our businesses here and engaged and interested and they’re all looking at growing. They want to be able to do more work with Airbus,” State Representative Joe Snowski said. Looking for partners to create the millions of parts needed for each airplane, Airbus said it’s about keeping the machines in the sky now and for years to come. “Priorities that we have in terms of new material technology, a lot of composite manufacturing as we think about the next generation of aircraft, but also to meet the needs of our current,” Hayes said. The morning portion of Wednesday’s Airbus Supplier Day featured introductions with the afternoon set aside for one-on-one sessions with local manufacturers and Airbus leaders. Copyright 2026 Rockford News First. All rights reserved.