A320 aircraft production in the U.S. is on schedule to begin this summer as large aircraft components for the first U.S.-produced aircraft departed from Hamburg, Germany, bound for Mobile, Alabama. The parts on a ship named BBC Atlantic.
The major component assemblies consist of wings produced in the UK, rear fuselage section produced in Germany and the tail cone produced in Spain, and the forward fuselage section, including the cockpit produced in France. All these components contain parts from all over the world. The horizontal (from Spain) and vertical (from Germany) stabilizers are also on board. The first aircraft is an A321ceo destined for delivery to JetBlue in 2016.
Airbus established the Airbus U.S. Manufacturing Facility in Mobile to assemble and deliver A319, A320 and A321 aircraft to meet the growing needs of its customers in the United States. The new Mobile factory is a key part of being able to increase overall production for the A320 – initial production is planned at 4/month. This is Airbus’ first U.S.-based production facility, and the fourth in the network which includes Toulouse, Hamburg and Tianjin.
Approximately 200 employees, including some from Mobile who are training in Hamburg, celebrated the shipment in a ceremony, in the presence of the U.S. Consul General in Hamburg, Nancy Corbett. The voyage will take approximately 20 days.
