Airbus, Europe’s largest aerospace manufacturer, announced this week that it will be increasing its output of A320 jets, thanks to a rise in profits.
According to the BBC, Airbus’ “net income rose 21% to 3.6bn euros ($5bn; £3bn) in 2013, a year when Airbus delivered a record 626 planes. Revenues rose 5% to 59.3bn euros.”
As a result, an Airbus spokesman said the company would increase its production of A320 jets from its current pace of 42 per month, to 46 per month by 2016.
“Based on the healthy market outlook for our best-selling A320 family and following a comprehensive assessment of our supply chain’s readiness to ramp-up, we are ready to go to rate 46 by Q2 2016,” said Tom Williams of Airbus.
“With a record backlog of over 4,200 A320 family aircraft… we have a solid case to increase our monthly output to satisfy our customers’ requirement for more of our fuel efficient aircraft.”
Airbus announced in July of 2012 that it would be building a $600 million A320 manufacturing facility in Mobile, Ala. Construction is currently underway, with aircraft assembly scheduled to begin in 2015 and the first delivery targeted for 2016. That timing coincides perfectly with Airbus’ planned ramp up.
A spokesperson for Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson told Yellowhammer that this week’s Airbus announcement does not have an immediate impact on the number of jobs at the facility, but that it was a great sign of things to come.
In similar news, Airbus’ main rival, Boeing, which also has a significant presence in Alabama, said it expects to deliver somewhere between 715-725 aircraft this year, an increase of at least 10% over 2013 — more potential good news for Alabama’s standing as a budding aerospace juggernaut.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
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