In an effort to grow its A320 family production capacity to 75 per month by 2026, Airbus opened a new final assembly line in Toulouse earlier this year. The first aircraft built at the site was delivered to Pegasus...
In an effort to grow its A320 family production capacity to 75 per month by 2026, Airbus opened a new final assembly line in Toulouse earlier this year. The first aircraft built at the site was delivered to Pegasus Airlines earlier this week.
Continue reading to learn more.
This summer, Airbus opened a new A320 family final assembly line in Toulouse. (Credit: Airbus)
Airbus’s Newest A320 Family Final Assembly Line in Toulouse
While the various components that are integrated to make an Airbus aircraft are made by hun manufacturers around the world, there are only a few places where Airbus aircraft are assembled.
The final assembly lines for widebody Airbus aircraft are located in Toulouse, France. The final assembly lines for the narrowbody A320 family are located in Hamburg, Germany; Toulouse, France; Mobile, United States; and Tianjin, China. The A220s are assembled in Mirabel, Canada, and Mobile, United States.
As for the A320 family assembly lines, there are four in Hamburg, one in Mobile, and one in Tianjin. Airbus broke ground on another A320 family assembly line in Tianjin recently and plans to put it into service at the end of 2025.
In Toulouse, Airbus formerly had two A320 family assembly lines. However, in July 2023, the manufacturer opened the third one in an effort to ramp up its production rate. At the facility’s inauguration ceremony, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury noted that “this FAL will contribute to the ongoing production rate ramp-up to 75 A320 Family aircraft per month in 2026, while meeting the increased demand for A321s which currently represents around 60 percent of the total A320 Family backlog.”
The new final assembly line is located in the “Jean-Luc Lagardère” building which was used as the A380 final assembly line in the past. Compared to the older A320 final assembly lines, the new one is more efficient thanks to using newer technologies such as digital production control using tablets and smartphones, automated logistics for parts distribution, and lightweight robots for joining sections.
The First Aircraft Comes Out of the New Final Assembly Line
About five months after inaugurating the third A320 family final assembly line in Toulouse, Airbus announced that the first aircraft assembled at the new facility was delivered to its customer.
The aircraft, an Airbus A321neo registered TC-RDK (MSN 11281), was delivered to the Turkish low-cost Pegasus Airlines on December 27, 2023. It was ferried on that day from Toulouse to the airline’s base at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airbus as flight PC91 where it joined the airline’s fleet of about 100 mostly Airbus aircraft.
Pegasus Airlines became the first airline to receive an aircraft made at the new facility. (Credit: Airbus)
Summary
Airbus has nine final assembly lines for its A320 family in four locations around the world. In addition to the main production site in Hamburg, Germany which has four lines, there are also three lines in Toulouse, France, and one line each in Mobile, United States, and Tianjin, China. An additional final assembly line is being built in Tianjin.
The latest of the three A320 final assembly lines in Toulouse was inaugurated this summer. Now, about five months later, the first aircraft built at the facility – an A321neo – was delivered to Pegasus Airlines.
The post Airbus Delivers the First Aircraft from Its New Toulouse Final Assembly Line appeared first on KN Aviation.