Aviation in Germany
This week our class took a look at The Atlas of Economic Complexity, a data visualization tool that provides insight into a country’s economic structure, market dynamics, strategy space, and more. As it stands, Germany has a very distinguished economy through its large amount of yearly exports and central location in the European continent. According to The Atlas, the goods that Germany exported in 2021 amounted to $2.02 trillion USD in 2021, affirming its position as a world leader in export goods and economic strength.
When exploring The Atlas, an industry that stood out to me was the aviation industry. Typically when people think of vehicle and automotive manufacturing and exports, Germany is one of the first if not the first country to come to mind. This is not without reason, Germany has a rich reputation for automobile manufacturing that is rooted not only in operational excellence, but cultural history as well. More specifically, automobiles is the export product that yields the highest net export profits for Germany, reaching a value of $67.6B in 2021 alone. However, within the vehicle industry Germany has also served as a critical hub for aviation construction in design, something that is often overlooked in Germany’s economic profile.
In 2021, aviation and spacecraft exports cumulated to a value of $15.5B. Germany has had an extended history with aviation, dating back to the early 1900s. In 1970, Airbus was formed by French and German aerospace firms, its first product, the A300, entering service in 1974 (https://www.britannica.com/summary/Airbus-Industrie). Since then, Germany hubs Airbus’ largest and most critical operation sites, their employees representing close to half of the nation’s aerospace workforce as a whole (https://www.airbus.com/en/our-worldwide-presence/airbus-in-germany). If anything, given Germany’s cultural connectivity with automobile manufacturing and exports, aviation design and development fits right into the nation’s economic landscape, especially in the vehicle industry, hence its expansion and global prominence today.
When our class visits Germany in March, one of the great excitements of our trip will be our visit to the Airbus museum. I hope that during our trip to the Airbus museum, we will be able to immerse ourselves in Germany’s history with aviation further. More specifically, how Hamburg rose to become Airbus’ headquarters for commercial aviation development. Alongside Germany’s relationship with aviation, I am also curious to the nitty gritty details that go into building an Airbus aircraft, especially the research and development.
