TWO major aerospace orders worth hundreds of millions of pounds look set to bring work to East Lancashire.

Emirates has announced it will be a launch customer for the Airbus A3XX super jumbo -- a major coup for the Airbus consortium which includes BAE Systems.

Some of the work on the plane -- the biggest civil aircraft to be built -- is expected to come to the firm's Samlesbury site, which is already heavily involved in producing Airbus components along with the Warton factory.

And India is believed to be about to announce a £1billion order for BAE's Hawk Trainer, in which workers at the Warton site are heavily involved. It is understood India has chosen the Hawk rather than France's Alpha jet.

In April, the Government announced a £530million Government aid package to build the new A3XX, which will help secure thousands of Lancashire aerospace jobs.

As well as BAE Systems plans at Samlesbury and Warton, dozens of supply companies across East Lancashire will be hopeful of winning work on the huge project. Emirates has said it will buy up to 10 of the super jumbos -- a huge boost to the Airbus consortium.

A further three airlines are expected to also announce orders later this month. The new aircraft marks a major step forward in commercial aircraft. Shops, bars, gymnasiums and McDonald's food outlets could all feature in the new superjumbo.

The new giant of the sky will be a double-decker as much as 260ft long and able to carry up to 900 passengers.

Towering 80ft above the ground, it will be big enough to contain a casino and a children's play area.

The plane, is costing about £7.5 billion to develop and each aircraft will be about £125million to buy.

The wings of the new plane will be built by BAE Systems, formerly British Aerospace, and Rolls-Royce will compete with American giants Pratt & Whitney and General Electric to supply the engines.

The A3XX family will begin with the 239ft-long A3XX-100, with a capacity of 555 passengers in three classes and a range of up to 7,650 miles.

The stretched A3XX-200 will be capable of transporting 656 passengers up to 7,650 miles, but the number of passengers carried will depend on the commercial considerations of each particular airline.