After years of record growth, the British aerospace industry is now coping with flat sales, a falling order backlog and a slump in research spending that could jeopardise its world standing.

Despite the tailwind of a sharp decline in the value of sterling, in 2008 industry-wide revenues only held their own at around £20.6bn ($33.6bn), according to the Society of British Aerospace Companies’ (SBAC) latest survey.