Airbus has announced that it will add a new final assembly line for production of the A321 at its site in Toulouse.
The French city will therefore become the third production site for the Airbus A321, the largest member of the A320 family. The aircraft type is mostly being build in Hamburg Finkenwerder, Germany, with smaller numbers coming from Airbus’ North American facility in Mobile, Alabama. So far, Toulouse was responsible for building almost all widebody airplanes that Airbus delivers to customers, along with the standard A320.
Its new line will replace a current Airbus A380 facility by mid-2022. Production of the four-engined ‘superjumbo’ is slowly ceasing, after the European aircraft manufacturer announced the end of the A380 programme in February last year.
The Airbus A321 is the largest member of the A320 family. This type can be split into four main variants: the A321ceo (“current engine option”), the next generation A321neo (“new engine option”), as well as the two longer-range versions A321LR and A321XLR, which are both based on the A321neo. Combined, the three A321neo versions account for about 45 percent of the more than 7,100 A320neo family orders, making it one of the most popular single-aisle aircraft types ever.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
