Boeing Hosts UK Suppliers to Explore Trade Opportunities

SEATTLE, March 18, 2026 – Boeing [NYSE: BA] has hosted its fifth UK supplier trade mission in Seattle, welcoming a new cohort of UK suppliers over two days for briefings, factory tours and targeted business meetings aimed at boosting opportunities for future collaboration.

Organised in partnership with the UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and aerospace trade body, ADS, the forum connected UK suppliers with Boeing operations and supply chain leaders to discuss opportunities across Boeing’s commercial, defence and services programmes. The event on Monday and Tuesday this week had particular focus on supplier onboarding, bidding processes, and prospects for longer-term collaboration.

“The UK is one of the top aerospace exporters in the world,” said UK Minister for Industry, Chris McDonald. “The UK delegation is here to showcase the innovation and engineering excellence of our brilliant SMEs, helping them forge new partnerships with Boeing and build vital connections across the supply chain.”

“Through our Industrial and Trade Strategies we will continue to back this sector and grow our relationship with Boeing, which employs more than 6,000 people in the UK and has spent more than £15 billion with over 970 British suppliers since 2015,” continued McDonald.

Since Boeing’s UK-US trade mission programme launched in 2016:

• More than 200 suppliers from every region of the UK have participated; nearly half are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
• SMEs that have attended the programme have generated more than £30 million in commercial export spend, and 80% of participants have won supplier contracts with Boeing.
• Over half of participants have returned to these collaboration events, demonstrating the programme’s ongoing value to the UK supply base.

“It’s been 10 years since we launched this programme and the results clearly speak for themselves,” said Sir Jeremy Quin, President, Boeing UK. “UK suppliers, from long-established firms to fast growing SMEs, have strengthened their competitiveness, won contracts and deepened their partnerships with Boeing.”

“The UK remains one of the largest supply bases outside the United States and events like this are a practical demonstration of our ongoing collaboration with the UK government, ADS and our dynamic aerospace sector,” continued Quin.

The two-day forum featured a tour of Boeing’s Everett factory (home to the 767 and 777/777X programmes), competitiveness workshops, plenary briefings from senior Boeing and UK government representatives, and focused B2B meetings with Boeing’s research and technology, product development and supplier management teams.

“These events have given us access to highly collaborative teams and an extensive network of contacts who have consistently supported our journey,” said Peter Girvan, Business Development Manager, Denroy, a Northern Ireland-based supplier of components across Boeing Commercial Airplane programmes.

“Several key individuals within Boeing have actively championed our capabilities, helped us identify relevant opportunities, and guided us through the complexities of becoming a supplier,” continued Girvan.

For more information: https://www.boeingsuppliers.com/become/terms#international

# # #

With more than 30 sites covering commercial, defence and services operations, the UK is one of Boeing’s largest supply chain bases outside the U.S. Over the past decade, Boeing has spent more than £15 billion across a network of over 970 UK domestic suppliers.

A leading global aerospace company, Boeing develops, manufactures, and services commercial airplanes, defence products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. The company leverages the talents of a global supplier base to advance economic opportunity, sustainability, and community impact. For more information, visit www.boeing.co.uk or follow us on X @BoeingUK.