One of the main reasons the Airbus Group has caught the imagination of the firm as a client is that its growth and its market focus, in many ways, mirror our own.

Those markets include China, where Airbus has an A320 final assembly line at Tianjin, countries across South-East Asia, Japan and Australia. For Airbus, forming close collaboration with players in the Asia Pacific region is an essential part of its strategy to maintain a significant share of aircraft sales in some of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets.

The aerospace and defence giant is also technologically highly advanced and the passion for invention and the pride Airbus takes in its products is one of the most inspiring aspects of working with the group.

All this plays to a range of A&O’s main strengths and creates many potential opportunities for us to collaborate.  For example, we can draw on our experience of working with other IP-rich sectors, in providing advice and support on issues such as patent protection and IP.

We hope, over time, also to provide more and more legal support needed for complex financing, cross-border M&A advice (much of which is focused on establishing joint ventures in new markets) and employment law, as well as anti-trust advice. Inevitably, there is also a call for cross border dispute resolution, environmental and regulatory, and risk management work.

The aviation industry deals in long-term projects. The life cycle of production of many of its products means that it needs to have legal and commercial security over supplier and customer relationships that will potentially stretch many years into the future. As the forces of globalisation increase, those relationships will inevitably become more complex as they become more important.

But this can be a volatile industry too. Although it continues to grow fast, particularly in developing markets, it is also vulnerable to economic swings. The impact of the global financial crisis on civil aviation, with many major airlines immediately hit by a rapid downturn in demand - particularly among their most lucrative customers, business travellers - was swift. Look too at the pressures on airlines to deal with massive hikes in the oil price in recent years, a significant driver in their search for and purchase of more fuel-efficient aircraft and engine technologies. Defence, too, is a very tough business to be in, with military spending in key markets under severe pressure.

The environmental challenges faced by the industry are also very real. Long-term demand for air travel is on an upward trend and likely to remain so, but the pressures to counteract the environmental impact of that demand are, and will remain, relentless. Already heavily regulated, the industry looks set to face further and increasing global environmental regulation in the years to come. Combating climate change, and air and noise pollution, is a priority internationally.

Global greenhouse gas emissions regulation, and innovation in biofuels, air traffic management and operations, and aircraft design, materials and components, all have a part to play in creating a sustainable future for the industry. In the present, perhaps the most immediate issue is achieving certainty in regulation to enable confident planning for the future.

These are mighty challenges and they are here for the long term. But - as the industry has shown consistently - challenge is often the very best breeding ground for innovation and this is an industry where innovation is absolutely fundamental to its sustainability.