(Video Above: Airbus’ U.S. A320 Family final assembly line in three dimensions)
By Kelli M. Dugan
With a new on-site chief and grand opening ceremonies set, Airbus’ U.S. Manufacturing Facility in Mobile is ready for takeoff, concluding three years of planning, construction and community buy-in.
Airbus Americas spokeswoman Kristi Tucker confirmed two A321 aircraft are already in production “as we build up to inaugural ceremonies” for the Toulouse, France-based planemaker’s first final assembly line on U.S. soil on Sept. 14.
The first of the Mobile-assembled, narrow-body planes is slated for delivery to Jet Blue in the second quarter of 2016, while American Airlines will accept delivery of the second A321 at a later date, Tucker said.
Mike Lanier, president of Birmingham-based Hoar Program Management overseeing the manufacturing facility’s construction, said work has been seamless on the project since Airbus accepted June 21 delivery of the first major component assemblies, including wings; horizontal and vertical stabilizers; the rear fuselage, including the tail cone; and the forward fuselage, including the cockpit.
“Most of the buildings have been turned over from our construction partners to the Airbus facilities team. We continue to work with outsourced providers of services such as jigs and tools for the final assembly line,” Lanier said. “We’re working with Airbus to ensure each building meets or exceeds final inspection criteria in order for Airbus employees to work in the safest environment as soon as possible.”
To date, that employment figure totals more than 225, more than half of which hail from Mobile and Baldwin counties. Another 30 percent was recruited from other parts of Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. Tucker also said an estimated 30 percent of the new hires are U.S. military veterans.
The newest Airbus final assembly line joins global operations in Toulouse; Hamburg, Germany; and Tianjin, China and is expected to employ about 1,000 people at peak production of 40 to 50 aircraft by 2018.
Despite chatter of boosting monthly production goals to meet increasing demand for the popular single-aisle A320 family of aircraft (and ample available space at Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley to more than double the soon-to-debut Alabama facility), Airbus officials said there are no plans to grow in Mobile.
“There are no plans for expansion at this time,” Tucker said.
On Aug. 25, Airbus announced industry veteran Daryl Taylor will succeed Ulrich Weber as vice president and general manager of the Mobile facility now that construction and commissioning of the final assembly line is complete.
“(Taylor) brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in aircraft manufacturing and facility operations which will ensure the A320 family manufacturing facility in Mobile is successful, an industry leader and provides a great product to our customers,” Airbus Americas President Barry Eccleston said.
Since 2013, Taylor has served as vice president and general manager for both GKN Aerospace’s Precision Machining Inc. in Wellington, Kan., and its Burbank, Calif.-based Bandy Aerospace Inc. Prior to joining GKN, Taylor was general manager of the Q400 Program at Bombardier Aerospace in Toronto, Canada, and held various positions at Wichita, Kan.-based Hawker Beechcraft Corp.
With a host of public and private grand opening celebrations slated to begin in Mobile Sept. 12, HPM’s Lanier said his company is entering the final stages of its involvement with the high-profile project.
“As our local contractors and subcontractors complete their projects on the site and begin to pack up and leave, Alabama workers are arriving trained and ready to start assembling airplanes. By the end of the year, all construction will be complete,” Lanier said, calling it a truly “cooperative effort” between Airbus, HPM, Hatch Mott MacDonald and “the dozens of firms and companies working together to ensure this legacy project shines brightly for Alabama to the rest of the world.”
Grand opening celebrations include a Sept. 12 community celebration on the Mobile Aeroplex Green Space (located on Broad Street between 5th and 6th streets) immediately following the Airbus 5K on the Runway post-race celebration. Festivities are tentatively slated to begin around 7:30 p.m., complete with family-friendly activities, live music, fireworks and food and drinks for purchase.
“The Mobile community has been with us through thick and through thin, and we wanted to involve everyone in this celebration because it’s as much their project as it is ours,” Michelle Hurdle, Airbus’ director of economic and community development, said.
Aside from the general public support and interest the Mobile and surrounding communities have shown, Hurdle said 83 percent of the contractors used since the project broke ground in April 2013, are Alabama based, and 62 percent of those firms are based in either Mobile or Baldwin counties.
“It’s their blood, sweat and tears in this project, and we’re celebrating with them,” Hurdle said.
Meanwhile, a formal invitation-only inauguration ceremony is slated at the plant Monday, Sept. 14.
Airbus U.S. Manufacturing facility at a glance
– 116-acre site on which nearly $1 million of work was installed per day during peak construction
– 294,000 linear feet of concrete piles, or nine times the height of Mount Everest
– 3,650 tons of structural steel in the final assembly line hangar, alone, placed in only four months
– More than 10,000 cubic yards of poured concrete, equaling 38 miles of four-foot sidewalks
– 5 million square feet of paving, equal to roughly 20 full-sized soccer fields
– 15,000 linear feet of total storm drains, equal in length to 10 Empire State Buildings
– Fire water tanks that hold 875,000 gallons of water, or the equivalent of nine million cans of soda
– Central utility plant equipped with 4,200 tons of cooling capacity, roughly the amount needed enough to condition more than 1,500 residential homes
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