Airbus inaugurated on Monday at its Jean-Luc Lagardère plant in Blagnac, near Toulouse, a new final assembly line for its A320 family and, in particular, the latest A321neo, breathing new life into this site previously dedicated to the A380 superjumbo whose production has been permanently halted
The European aircraft manufacturer is benefiting from record demand for its narrowest medium-haul aircraft and the A320neo and A321neo are the foundation of this success. Last year they accounted for 69% of the European aircraft manufacturer’s sales.
Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire visited the partially automated line inside the plant, which Airbus says will create 700 jobs by 2026. That’s half of the full-time jobs just in the context of building the A380. Announced in 2022, this new line will deliver its first aircraft next year.
The A321neo is the largest aircraft in the A320 Family, which was relaunched with new engines in 2010, just in time to meet increased demand driven in part by low interest rates.
8 weeks to assemble a device
This is the eighth European assembly line for the A320 Family, and already announced expansion plans in the United States and China are expected to bring the global total to 10.
Airbus ensures that thanks to the automation and digitization of this line, it will only take 8 weeks to complete the assembly of a device.
“The inauguration in Toulouse of this new final assembly line capable of producing the A321 is another milestone in the modernization of our global industrial system. It will contribute to increasing our production (…) while responding to increased demand of the A321, which currently represents around 60% of the total order book for the A320 Family,” Guillaume Faury, Airbus Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement.
“We are pleased to see this new facility join our global network of assembly sites that will have four FALs in Hamburg, Germany, two in Toulouse, France, two in Mobile, USA, and two in Tianjin, China. ), all capable of producing the A321,” he continues.
This inauguration, described as “national pride” by Bruno Le Maire, comes as competition between Airbus and big rival Boeing advances on production capacities, with the two companies developing strategies to honor well-filled order books.
At the last Paris Air Show, Airbus registered 902 gross orders, after months of chronic interruption.
Increase cadences
The new assembly line is part of a shakeup that Airbus says will bring total production of the A320 Family to 75 per month by 2026, from the current 45. It has promised 720 devices to market by 2023. Some vendors consider this goal ambitious.
But the situation on the supply chain front is improving. Airbus Thus, it delivered 72 commercial aircraft in June, which allowed it to make up for part of the delay in its annual objectives. In May, Airbus had delivered 63 aircraft, down from 54 in April, when it had only managed to deliver 127 aircraft during the first quarter.
“Ramp-up and decarbonisation are the two challenges for Airbus”, also stressed Guillaume Faury, the head of Airbus during the inauguration of this production line.
Source: BFM TV
