MORE than 3,000 East Lancashire aerospace workers were today flying high after news of a £1 billion Chinese order.

The deal to supply 30 Airbus jet aircraft behind the Bamboo Curtain is seen as a major breakthrough for the consortium behind the plane of which British Aerospace is a part.

As well as a significant boost for the Samlesbury and Warton BAe sites, the deal will mean considerable work for local sub-contractors and suppliers.

The order, which industry experts said could be the first of many from China, will help safeguard BAe jobs including those at its Samlesbury and Warton sites.

At Samlesbury, about 1,750 people are directly involved in Airbus work. The site manufactures leading and trailing edges for Airbus wings and high-tech carbon fibre composite panels for the aircraft.

Dennis Mendoros, chairman of the Clayton-le-Moors based Consortium of Lancashire Aerospace, which represents more than 100 companies, today said he was "delighted" by the news.

Mr Mendoros, who runs Euravia Engineering at Kelbrook, said: "As well as being excellent for BAe, this order will benefit many of the smaller firms who supply BAe in this area. "China is an area where BAe and the consortium have worked very hard to try to penetrate and I believe this will be the first of many orders from there which will benefit this region."

In recent years the workload on civil aircraft at Samlesbury has increased significantly at the site and this year more than half of the site's production will be on the Airbus range.

Airbus, for whom BAe builds wings, will supply 10 A320 and 20 A321 jets to Chinese airlines.

Airbus airliners currently account for only about 15 per cent of China's market, but officials have said they plan to expand the share to bring it closer to the level of American planemakers Boeing.

"It's a very important success and there will be other ones," Airbus president Jean Pierson said after the signing ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

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