[3] In April 2006 BAE Systems announced its intention to sell its share of Airbus SAS to EADS.

However, due to the slow pace of negotiations and disagreements over price, BAE exercised its put option which saw investment bank Rothschild appointed to give an independent valuation.

[5] On 5 July 2006 BAE appointed independent auditors to study why the value of its share of Airbus had fallen from the original estimates to the Rothschild valuation.

After Hawker Siddeley (the parent company of De Havilland) had become part of British Aerospace, the Hatfield site was closed.

From the 1990s onwards, Airbus design work has been carried out at the Filton site, which was originally the Bristol Aeroplane Company.

[10] In 2011 Airbus announced the construction of a new office complex, referred to as the "Aerospace Park", at the Filton site.

[11] The current Airbus Broughton site was founded in 1939 as a shadow factory for the production of the Vickers Wellington and the Avro Lancaster.