Insee Première · December 2021 · n° 1882

The aerospace industry in France in 2020.  A sharp decline in activity, but prospects for recovery.

In 2020, the 4,480 companies in the French aerospace industry employed 263,000 people in their aerospace activities. Revenues from this activity reached 106 billion euros.

The health crisis has strongly affected the sector. In 2020, aerospace revenues have fallen by 32%. At the same time, the drop in the number of employees was four times less (-8%), as companies have made extensive use of support measures, notably partial activity. These job losses were observed in both manufacturing and service sectors. SMEs were the most affected. Despite the crisis, innovation work has continued and the sector has not made any major changes in location or re-internalisation of its activity.

At the beginning of 2021, the sector's business leaders believed that activity was increasing compared to the second half of 2020. They were anticipating a continuation of this recovery throughout 2021, which should be accompanied by an increase in employment in services but not in the manufacturing sector.