Airbus says that the breakthrough expands and deepens the collaboration with China’s aviation industry, and demonstrates Airbus’ commitment to enhance its long-term strategic partnership with China
The first Airbus A321 aircraft to be assembled in Asia will be delivered in early 2023, says the European aircraft maker. In 2008, with Asia emerging as its largest market, on the back of a booming demand from China and India, Airbus had announced setting up of an assembly line at Tianjin in China.
Since then, this marks the biggest upgrade of the line and which puts Tianjin’s Final Assembly Line (FAL) at par with the three other assembly lines of Airbus in operation currently, namely in Toulouse in France, Hamburg in Germany and Mobile in the United States.
Airbus says that the breakthrough expands and deepens the collaboration with China’s aviation industry, and demonstrates Airbus’ commitment to enhance its long-term strategic partnership with China. The FAL in Tianjin officially started the adaptation work to become A321 capable in August 2022.
“Since we announced our plans to expand the capability of FAL Tianjin to A321 production last November, I am proud that the Airbus Tianjin team has successfully completed the relevant adaptation work on schedule by working closely with European experts and our suppliers to overcome the impact of Covid-19” said George Xu, Airbus Executive Vice President and Airbus China CEO.
“The commissioning of the first A321 aircraft underlines Airbus’ commitment to China, marking a new milestone in the industrial cooperation with our Chinese partners,” added Xu.
Airbus says that by the end of 2022, all commercial aircraft assembly sites will be A321-capable, as part of the industrial strategy to de-risk the ramp up and to meet the rising share of A321 production.
Inaugurated in 2008, FAL Tianjin was the first Airbus commercial aircraft assembly line outside Europe. In the same year, the first aircraft sections arrived on site. Since its first A320 delivery in 2009, FAL Tianjin has delivered more than 600 aircraft over its 14 years in operation. Airbus says that FAL Tianjin has become a role model of successful Sino-European cooperation.
The A321neo is the longest-fuselage member of Airbus’ best-selling, single-aisle A320 Family, seating as many as 244 passengers in a higher-density arrangement, with a longest range reaching 8,700 km. Featuring the widest single-aisle cabin in the sky, the A320neo Family offers a 20 pc reduction in fuel consumption and carbon emissions as well as a 50 pc noise reduction compared to previous generation aircraft, thanks to incorporating the very latest technologies including new generation engines and sharklets.
By the end of September 2022, the A320neo Family had received over 8,500 firm orders from more than 130 customers worldwide, says Airbus.
