Airbus opening first USA aircraft plant on Alabama coast

Airbus will raise its profile, and lower costs, with a $600 million plant for single-aisle airplanes to be unveiled on Monday in the city of Mobile.

“To make sure that we have a prepared workforce to fill their needs a requirements, so they’ll partner with our community colleges and make sure that happens”, said Mayor Stimpson.

When M Brégier held his briefing he said, “This is the most significant game changer in U.S. aerospace in decades”. The Toulouse, France-based company said it chose to build a USA final assembly plant for A320 Family aircraft because the U.S.is the world’s largest single-aisle aircraft market. The planes seating upwards of 200 passengers are becoming a mainstay of transcontinental flying by American, Delta, JetBlue and other airlines. Airbus officials said the fuselage is part of one out of the two planes in the final assembly that are already being built. “You don’t need to reinvent it”.

“There’s not a mayor in America that wouldn’t give their right arm to have a facility like Airbus coming into their community”, said Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson after the conference.

Airbus expect to sell 100 single-aisle per year in North America. Deliveries are due to start early next year out of the 53-acre (215 000-square metre) facility, with the production tempo increasing to four aircraft a month by early 2018. The plant and planes will be certified by European regulators rather than the US Federal Aviation Administration.

The plant now employs 250 people.

The planemakers are racing to reap profits from a near- record backlog of narrowbody jet orders: 5,181 for Airbus to 4,253 for Boeing, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.

The factory is a potent challenge to rival Boeing Co.

Airbus spreads the work across three factories spread around the globe.

“Perhaps the most important of all, this is providing a greater future for our kids in this area”, said Barry Eccleston, President of Airbus Americas. If it does, it would add a fourth assembly line in Germany before raising production further in Alabama, he said.

The company plans to decide later this year if it will aim to max out production at eight planes a month at the Alabama location from an initial planned level of four.

“Thanks to Mobile, the sun will never set on Airbus”, said Bregier two years ago.

That story began with a design and engineering centre in Wichita, Kansas, in 2002, and it now has 3800 direct employees in 16 states involved in defence, space and helicopter programs, supporting 260,000 USA based jobs.