Last week’s poll: drivers for UK aerospace growth

The 280 respondents to last week's poll on the UK aerospace sector were not impressed by the promise of space tourism to provide new work for the industry. The largest group of respondents, 45 per cent, thought that aircraft demand in high-growth regions such as China was more likely to drive growth in the aerospace sector in the short-to-medium term. Slightly more than a third – 35 per cent – thought that the need of aircraft operators to drive down their operating costs was the most likely driver, while 9 per cent agreed with the EEF and Santander’s report that the anticipated demand for space tourism would be most important. Only 3 per cent thought that increased demand from passengers for comfort would be an important driver, and 9 per cent declined to pick one of our options, with some commenters (in a more subdued comment section than we've seen for several weeks) wanted more clarification on what exactly was meant by “growth”; other subjects raised included the split between civil and military aerospace and the desirability of aerospace growth in the face of environmental concerns.

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