The Airbus U.S. Manufacturing Facility is an assembly site for

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

's Commercial Airplanes division, located at the

Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley The Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley is an industrial complex and airport in Mobile, Alabama, United States, which lies adjacent to the western shore of Mobile Bay. It is owned and operated by the Mobile Airport Authority. It was known by a variety of ...

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

, United States. The plant is an assembly and delivery site for Airbus commercial aircraft in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and one of the largest employment centers in the state. The site is one of four final assembly and delivery points for the

Airbus A320neo The Airbus A320neo family is an incremental development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family (''neo'' being Greek for "new", as well as an acronym for "new engine option") is based on the Airbus A3 ...

family and one of two final assembly and delivery points for the

Airbus A220 The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership (ACLP). It was originally developed by Bombardier Aviation and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was launche ...

History

The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), the predecessor to the modern

Airbus SE Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate defence and space and helicopter divisions. Airbus has long been th ...

, announced in June 2005 that it selected Mobile, Alabama for an aircraft manufacturing facility. The company felt that a U.S. manufacturing facility would help it better compete for military aircraft contracts. EADS said that it had picked Mobile for its nearby deep-water port off the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

, an abundance of industrial space available within the

, the site of the former

Brookley Air Force Base : ''For the civil use of Brookley AFB after 1969, see: Mobile Downtown Airport'' Brookley Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located in Mobile, Alabama. After it closed in 1969, it became what is now known as the Mobile Aero ...

, and access to the uncongested Mobile Downtown Airport. EADS also built an engineering office at the site, which opened in 2006. In 2008, EADS launched a joint bid with

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

to supply aerial refueling tankers to the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

. As part of the bid, EADS planned to assemble the basic

Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...

airframe in Mobile before delivering it to a neighboring facility to be operated by Northrop Grumman, where it would be converted into the KC-45 tanker. EADS also announced plans to have its Airbus subsidiary shift

commercial freighter assembly to Alabama. In total, Northrop Grumman and EADS planned to invest approximately US$600 million in their assembly plants in Alabama. However, EADS and Northrop Grumman lost the contract. Delta A321 at Airbus Mobile

However, Airbus remained interested in opening a U.S. manufacturing facility in Mobile. In June 2012, it was announced that Airbus had decided to open the facility to assemble the

Airbus A320 family The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the fami ...

(A319, A320 and A321) of airliners. The announced plans included a $600 million factory at the Brookley Aeroplex for the assembly of the aircraft, employing up to 1,000 full-time workers when at full capacity. Construction was scheduled to begin in 2013, with it becoming operable by 2015 and intending to produce 40 to 50 aircraft per year by 2017. The plan was formally announced by Airbus CEO Fabrice Brégier from the Mobile Convention Center on 2 July 2012. A groundbreaking ceremony for the factory was held on 8 April 2013. On 14 September 2015, Airbus officially opened the Mobile assembly line.

Aircraft in production

Airbus A320

The Mobile plant is a final assembly line for the

Airbus A320neo family The Airbus A320neo family is an incremental development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family (''neo'' being Greek for "new", as well as an acronym for "new engine option") is based on the enhanc ...

of narrow-body aircraft and previously the

. Aircraft assembled in Mobile are destined for airlines based in North America. On 21 June 2015, the main fuselage components for the first aircraft built in Mobile arrived at the plant. The first aircraft, an A321, was delivered to

JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation, stylized as jetBlue, is an American major airline headquartered in Long Island City, in Queens, New York City. Primarily a point-to-point carrier, JetBlue's network features six focus cities including its main hub ...

on 25 April 2016. The major components of the aircraft, such as the wings and fuselage, are built in factories across Europe and sent to

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Oc ...

, France, where four aircraft worth of parts on truck trailers are loaded onto a barge. After a trans-Atlantic crossing, the parts are off-loaded at the

Port of Mobile The Port of Mobile is a deep-water port in Mobile, Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, United States. It is the only deep-water port in Alabama. It was ranked by the United States Army Corps of Engineers as the 9th largest port by tonnage in the nation d ...

, and trucked final mile to the factory for assembly. , the site has the capacity to assemble seven A320 family aircraft every month. The company plans to add a second A320 family assembly line to increase production to 20 aircraft every month. The Mobile facility was the final assembly site for the last A320ceo family aircraft built, an A321 registered N129DN that was delivered to

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

on December 16, 2021.

Airbus A220

The Mobile plant has also been used as a final assembly line for

narrow-body aircraft since August 2019. The first aircraft from the new line, an A220-300, was delivered to

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

in October 2020. Airbus plans to ramp production in Alabama up to four A220 aircraft each month by 2025. Airbus acquired a majority stake in the

Bombardier CSeries The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership (ACLP). It was originally developed by Bombardier Aviation and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries. The program was launche ...

programme in October 2017, renaming the aircraft the A220. While manufacturing of the A220 was already under construction at facilities in the province of Quebec, formerly owned by Bombardier, the aircraft was potentially facing steep tariffs for Canadian-made planes being purchased by U.S. airlines. Airbus announced that to avoid the possible tariffs, it would set up a second assembly line for the A220 at the Airbus Mobile factory. The

United States International Trade Commission The United States International Trade Commission (USITC or I.T.C.) is an agency of the United States federal government that advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of trade. It was created by Congress in 1916 as the U.S. Tari ...

ruled three months later that the Canadian-made planes did not threaten the U.S. airplane industry and no duty orders would be issued.

Notes

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://airbusalabama.com/ Airbus A320 family Buildings and structures in Mobile, Alabama Industrial buildings and structures in Alabama Airbus Airbus A220