Airbus has inaugurated a new A320 Family final assembly line in Toulouse during a ceremony attended by the 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 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,” said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury.

“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 of them capable of assembling the A321.”

A variety of innovations feature prominently in this latest A320 Family final assembly line, with the aim of maximising product quality, and efficiency, as well as establishing new standards for health, safety, and sustainability. These innovations include digital production control using tablets and smartphones to reduce paper consumption, 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 2022 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.