WORKERS at Robert H Lowe in Crewe have swapped sportswear for aeroplane seat covers after the factory was bought this week.

Hundreds of jobs at the company's factories in Crewe, Congleton and Biddulph hung in the balance after RH Lowe lost a major contract with Adidas in June.

The loss prompted the company to move away from sportswear manufacture and concentrate solely on packaging operations.

The Vincent Road site in Crewe employed more than 50 people and 12 have since been made redundant but the factory was bought out last week by Worthing-based Aircraft Interior Refurbishments.

AIR manufactures aeroplane seat covers, curtains and carpets and is responsible for the dry cleaning and laundering of aircraft soft furnishings.

Factory manageress Judith Beamon said: "It's all very exciting and we are very pleased.

"We are making covers for all types of aircraft seats including Virgin and British Airways and it's all very new but we are looking forward to it."

AIR spokeswoman Gloria Cloran said the company had taken over Robert H Lowe as part of its expansion plans to support units at Manchester Airport and contracts at East Midlands and Birmingham Airports.

She added: "This is a very exciting time for us as we expand to go forwards with new technology and interior design ideas towards the year 2000."

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.