UK Launch Aid Experience

Abstract

Compared with the amount of interest Launch Aid has generated over the years, disproportionately little factual data has informed public policy debate. Information entering the public domain has arrived in piecemeal fashion, resulting in considerable disparities between sources. While Launch Aid has figured prominently in post-war UK civil aerospace policy to date, the impending decisions over how to fund the Airbus Industrie A3XX super jumbo programme and more generally over how to respond to the US industry have once again returned Launch Aid to a position of particular relevance, importance and topicality. This paper aims to provide a systematic, consistent and independent account of UK Launch Aid experience drawing on all publicly available information. Emphasis is placed on a) the historical, legal and institutional development of UK Launch Aid policy, as well as on b) the accompanying factual questions relating to actual sums disbursed and repaid. The result is a considerable improvement over existing sources in terms of completeness and consistency, serving additionally to identify remaining areas requiring further investigation.

Keywords: Launch Aid, civil aerospace, government support, R&D, risk

JEL Classification: H81, O31, O38, L93