Airbus makes US pledge with Mobile factory

The assembly plant is Airbus’s first in the US. Initally announced in 2012, Airbus says it will employ around 1,000 people directly, adding over $400m per year to the Alabama economy. The factory will receive sections of the company’s A320 family shipped from Europe, with these sections fitted together across four different stations in the factory’s flow line, then painted, tested and eventually handed over to customers.

“Our commercial aircraft production in Mobile signifies two things:  that Airbus has become the first truly global aircraft manufacturer, and that Airbus is now also a truly American manufacturer,” said Airbus president and chief executive Fabrice Brégier. 

“With the addition of our US facility to our production network in Europe and Asia, we have strategically expanded our worldwide industrial base.”

The A320 family (which includes the A318, A319, A320 and A321) is the world’s best selling single-aisle aircraft, with 6,700 delivered to date, and an order backlog of nearly 5,500. According to Barry Eccleston, president of Airbus Americas, somewhere around the world an A320 takes off or lands every two seconds.