On July 10, aircraft manufacturer Airbus announced the launch of a new final assembly line in Toulouse, France, for its A320 family aircraft.
The launch ceremony of the Final Assembly Line (FAL) was attended by French Minister of Economy & Finance Bruno Le Maire, French Transport Minister Clément Beaune, Minister of State for Industry Roland Lescure, and Minister of State for Territorial Collectivities and Rural Affairs Dominique Faure, as well as hundreds of Airbus employees.
The new line
Announced July 10, Airbus has launched their latest final assembly line for its A320 family series aircraft, located in Toulouse, France. The new Final Assembly Line will enable Airbus to speed up their production rate, which is aimed to be 75 aircraft per month in 2026.
On the launch of the new Final Assembly Line, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury, said: “The inauguration of this new A321-capable final assembly line in Toulouse represents another milestone in the ongoing modernisation of our global industrial system.”
“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,”
“We’re pleased to see this new facility join our worldwide network of final assembly sites which will comprise four FALs in Hamburg, Germany; two in Toulouse, France; two in Mobile, United States; and two in Tianjin, China, all them capable of assembling the A321,” he concluded.
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Feature-rich for sustainability
The new Final Assembly Line features a variety of innovations prominently in this latest A320 Family final assembly line, with the aim of maximising product quality, efficiency, as well as establishing new standards for health, safety and sustainability.
The innovations include digital polution control through smartphones and tablets to reduce paper consumption, as well as automated logistics for parts distribution and light-weight robots for joining sections.
Installed in the former A380 “Jean-Luc Lagardère” assembly building, the new Final Assembly Line started initial operations at the end of last year with the delivery of the first fuselage sections.
The roll-out of the first aircraft fully assembled in this facility – an A321 – is expected to take place by the end of this year.
The industrial site will progressively ramp up operations between now and 2025, directly employing around 700 workers, it is stated in the press release.
Overall
It appears Airbus is hard at work to ramp up production rates in order to assure on-time deliveries, and the new Final Assembly Line is nothing else than a great contribution to their ambitions on this subject.
Seeing that Airbus and its A320 family series aircraft is also becoming an increasingly popular choice among airlines, the new line could also make enhanced order-to-delivery rates a reasonable belief.
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