THE IMAGE. Toulouse: work to create the new A321 assembly line is progressing at Airbus
By Guillaume Laurent
Published on
It was at GTM Sud-Ouest TP GC, a subsidiary of the VINCI Construction group, thatAirbus named the work of civil engineering for the installation of new assembly line intended for the A321within the Jean-Luc Lagardère plant, former A380 assembly site, in Toulouse.
How are these works consistent?
The construction giant details the project it has been carrying out for the European aircraft manufacturer since the spring of 2022:
“The works concern the construction of 200 linear meters of buried technical gallery, the creation of blocks based on nearly 800 micropiles, the networks under paving, the niches and gutters for the energy supply of the toolmakers, the construction of the metal structure for fixed environments, as well as the rehabilitation of existing premises”.
“Started in May 2022, the civil engineering works will end in January 2023″, says Vinci Construction.
A project announced in spring 2021
Airbus had announced in the spring of 2021 to relaunch this project of modernized assembly line for the A320 family in Toulouse, which had been put on hold earlier, in the midst of the global Covid-19 crisis, following the decision to reduce production of commercial aircraft by around 40%. It had been relaunched thanks to an emerging market recovery and a potential return to pre-crisis production rates planned at the time “between 2023 and 2025 for single-aisle aircraft”.
The first A321 chain in Toulouse
Installed in the former Lagardère site dedicated to the A380, whose production ended in 2021, “this final assembly line (FAL) modernized and digitized for the A320 and A321 will replace one of the current FAL A320s in Toulouse,” explained Airbus. According to our information, this new line should be operational during 2023.
“This modernized FAL A320 in Toulouse, which has added a new generation assembly line to the Airbus single-aisle production system, has contributed to improving the overall industrial flow, quality, competitiveness as well as working conditions”, according to the aircraft manufacturer.
This flexibility accumulates for the production of the A321 must also support entry into service of the A321XLR expected from Hamburg in early 2024, which is currently in the test phase.
As a reminder, Hamburg (Germany) and Mobile (US) are currently the only Airbus production sites assembling the A321, the latest addition to the A320 family, the commercial aircraft best-selling in the world.
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