 Although the de Havilland factory closed down in 1962 and aircraft manufacturing at Bournemouth Airport ceased by the late 1970s, the aircraft and engineering industries remained important to the local economy. The BAC works at Bournemouth Airport were converted into a 80-hectare (200-acre) industrial estate which has become one of the largest employment sites in the county with over 140 businesses and a working population of some 2,000 people. The town has a number of smaller trading estates including: Airfield Way Industrial Estate, Sea Vixen Trading Estate, Silver Business Park, Hughes Business Park, Priory Park and Somerford Road, all situated on the old Christchurch Airfield; Fairmile / Avon Trading Park, once the old railway yard; and Groveley Road and Stony Lane.
