“We are with the aeronautical industry! »exclaimed Bruno Le Maire. Accompanied by Clément Beaune, Roland Lescure and Dominique Faure, respectively Ministers of Transport, Industry and Local Authorities, but also Carole Delga, President of the Occitanie region, the Minister of Economy and Finance came to attend, Monday July 10, at the inauguration of the new final assembly line (FAL for Final Assembly Line) of Airbus in Blagnac, in the suburbs of Toulouse. A consequent areopagus. In line with Airbus’ main objective, indicated by its executive chairman, Guillaume Faury: “Responding to the considerable challenge of ramping up”.
Indeed, it is not enough to collect the orders, it is then necessary to produce the planes. For the second consecutive year, Airbus must seriously increase its production rates to meet its objectives. In 2022, Guillaume Faury had set the number of planes that should be delivered at 720. The appointment was missed! Slowed down by supply problems and failures in its chain of subcontractors, Airbus had been unable to keep up with the pace set by its boss. At the end of 2022, the counter had stopped at 661 units delivered.
In 2023, Airbus has given itself the means to reach the levels expected by its management, i.e. a total of 720 aircraft to roll off the lines (the same objective as in 2022). The new assembly line will be mainly intended for the production of the medium-haul A320 and A321. The new site has taken up residence in the old premises where the late super-jumbo A380 was assembled. A cathedral factory of 122,000 square meters in area and 46 meters in height. It is to a woman, Marion Smeyers, that Airbus has given orders for its new assembly line.
No equivalent at Boeing
With this additional plant, Airbus will be able to rely on “ten assembly lines in the world” of its new star aircraft, the A321, welcomed Mr. Faury. The device is a real blockbuster which alone represents “60% of 4,000” medium-haul from the Airbus order book. It must be said that the A321 is the new Swiss army knife of air transport. An aircraft with the capabilities of a long-haul but the costs of a medium-haul. And above all a device of which Boeing has no equivalent. After long procrastination, the American aircraft manufacturer gave up building this mid-range aircraft, which would have arrived late compared to the competition and too early to benefit from the technological advances of the next generation aircraft.
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