West Midlands companies are missing out on major aerospace contracts, it was claimed yesterday.

Just a handful of companies have come forward to claim a slice of a hundred aerospace contracts up for grabs in the West Midlands.

And, unless contractors for projects like the A380 Airbus hear from companies within the next week, the contracts will almost certainly go abroad.

Aerospace giants building the world-beating Airbus series are looking for small to medium-size enterprises to pitch for anything from washers to windows.

It was thought the work would appeal to former MG Rover suppliers with ISO 9000 certification and a workforce of skilled engineers - but organisers of the contracts bonanza now think there may not be enough companies in the region to satisfy the demands.

Jas Bahra, whose company Fasttrack Learning of Wolverhampton is acting as consultants, said: "We are aware that while we have some larger main sub contractors in the area, many of the smaller companies with this sort of capability sadly may have disappeared.

"These are the small parts companies who have suffered from cheap imports and who just cannot compete any more."

The programme is being run in conjunction with Advantage West Midlands MAS LIFT-OFF.

It will involve companies enrolling in a programme designed to help SME's get a slice of the business.

Besides Airbus, BAe Systems, Rolls-Royce and Westland Helicopters are involved in the drive to find new capacity to meet demand for their products.

Fasttrack will be launching the scheme on Tuesday, at the Auditorium at Wolverhampton Science Park. Speakers will include most of the major players in the industry and Fasttrack say there will be room for up to 250 companies.

The programme of help for companies will include a business assessment and review, benchmarking, an MD's club to encourage networking and knowledgesharing, a series of workshops and seminars, crucial meet the buyer events and a web portal site with a link to all the suppliers.

Mr Bahra said: "This is a golden opportunity for the West Midlands to become an even bigger key supplier to the mushrooming aerospace industry. Airbus is now the number one world player, and our local companies can gain a slice of the good fortune this is bringing."

Companies will need to register on a website to book a place at the launch. The site is: www.aerospaceuk.com or they can ring Fasttrack on 01902 83 73 68.

Meanwhile, Airbus parent company EADS hinted the European planemaker could lose its lead in commercial jet orders to Boeing this year.

EADS chief financial officer Hans Peter Ring said Boeing could top Airbus on new orders for the first time since

2000.

"We can live with a situation where we would have been less than 50 per cent in '05," he said. Boeing's head of commercial aircraft sales, Scott Carson, vowed in April to regain the lead in orders this year, emboldened by demand for the new 787 Dreamliner due in 2008.

Airbus has offered a new rival model called the A350 but has found scant interest.

Already at the heart of a trade war which is brewing between Washington and the European Union over subsidies for plane making, Airbus also faces airlines angered by news the A380 is to be delivered up to six months late.