Korea's aerospace industry is growing fast. The size of the nation's aircraft manufacturing industry increased 20.5 percent last year to US$4.34 billion from $3.60 billion in the previous year.
An industry official said, "Since Korean aircraft makers succeeded in developing their own airplane designs in the early 2000s, the Korean aerospace industry has grown rapidly." Even Korean Airlines, the passenger airliner, is running an aerospace parts manufacturing unit.
The total amount of orders for the industry is expected to break the 10-trillion-won level for the first time in its history. Earlier on May 25, Korea Aerospace Industries won a 1.6-trillion-won order to supply light civilian/armed helicopters with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.
It will complete other large-scale projects, including the 8.5-trillion-won fighter development project and the FA-50 light attack aircraft project with the Peruvian government by the year's end.
Kim Ik-sang, analyst with HI Investment & Securities, said, "The combined order volume of Korea's aerospace manufacturers including KAI, Korean Air, Aerospace Technology of Korea, and Hize Aero would be more than 10 trillion won.
Given the special nature of the aerospace industry that is highly labor intensive with little room for mass-production, the number of employees within the industry will likely increase more." As of the end of 2014, the number of workers in the aerospace industry was 12,407, after surpassing the 10,000 level in 2010.
