You should choose engineering school, assuming engineering is what you want to do as a career.
From what it sounds like, an apprenticeship at Airbus will essentially make you a machinist/assemblyman/sealer or something like that. Those are highly skilled jobs, but they won't be part of the engineering design process. If you want to do anything engineering related, you'll need an engineering degree. Hands on machinist experience won't get you there.
I would argue that although it is possible to get to a good place in the company just being a machinist, in a technical firm such as Airbus, it will be much harder to move very far without at least a bachelor's degree, preferably one in an engineering discipline.
Put it this way if your competing with another person for an engineering position. He has a degree in engineering, but you have 2 years of actual hand on experience working for the joint largest aeroplane manufacturer in the world. I know who I would employ
Depending on what the apprenticeship actually entails. If it is a manufacturing apprenticeships, he will just be doing the physical work of manufacturing parts of the airplane. If I was looking for a machinist, I would certainly hire someone with that experience. If I'm looking for an engineer, I would not hire him because he doesn't have an engineering degree, irregardless of his experience at Airbus.
Now, I can't offer any experience in regards to the situation in America, but I was in a similar situation (sort of) and went with the apprenticeship. Around here, you won't get anywhere without practical experience, so that's where the apprenticeship shines. However, getting into a good position within a company is all but impossible without at least a bachelor's degree under your belt.
Personally, I'll probably try to get the degree once my apprenticeship is finished, as my employer offers me some considerable support, especially when it comes to tuition fees. If I was in the position to chose again, I'd probably go with university first, though. Especially if I was able to stay with my perents (which I wasn't, but still).
I think the bolded part is especially true; but I think there are many ways to get hands on, practical experience in school (internships, co-ops, etc). A bachelor's is going to be very important to helping you get to a good place in a company.
Well thats the aim, the good thing about the Broughton Airbus Factory is it works on the wings (anything from the A320's to the A380's) so aerodynamic features will be essential so it doesn't create too much drag etc.
Double check for sure, but I doubt you'll be doing any actual aerodynamics design work in your apprenticeship. That plant likely just manufactures things based on the design created by engineering division in Toulouse. Sure there will be some manufacturing engineers there to help solve manufacturing problems and better the system, but they are going to be a small population, and I'm not sure that's what the apprenticeship entails.
