Yorkshire company wins order from British Airways

British Airways has called on the expertise of a North Yorkshire manufacturing company to provide an engineering solution for its new fleet of Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 aircraft. The airline has placed an order with Unison, based in Scarborough, for its tube bending machinery to produce replacement rigid hydraulic tubes for its new aircraft. Both the A380 and the 787 Dreamliner have advanced hydraulic systems that operate under much higher pressure than other commercial aircraft. To accommodate the greater pressure, the new Unison equipment will manufacture the hydraulic pipework from specialist aerospace materials, such as titanium alloy, using thick tube walls. British Airways has invested in 12 new A380s and 24 Boeing 787s, as part of a £5bn investment. The tube bending machinery will be installed at the airline’s Engineering maintenance base at Heathrow Airport where the aircraft will be maintained. The bespoke machinery is capable of producing precision tubework to exactly replicate worn or damaged parts quickly, efficiently and cost effectively. In addition to supplying the complete tube fabrication solution Unison will also be working with British Airways to integrate the new process into the airline’s engineering operation.