Airbus will build a third final assembly line for commercial jets at Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile, the company announced Monday during an event at Bishop State Community College that also celebrated the opening of a new advanced manufacturing training center for the aerospace industry.
The announcement, made at Bishop State’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center in downtown Mobile, means the aircraft manufacturer will roughly double its production capacity in the Port City. Airbus expects the new line to begin building airplanes in early 2025, with the added capacity driven by rising customer demand across the company’s commercial aircraft business.
Daryl Taylor, vice president and general manager of Airbus’s Mobile final assembly line sites, told the crowd the company has produced roughly 300 aircraft since its first Mobile assembly line opened. He said the new line will more than double that pace of production and thanked the local community for its support over the years, including after Airbus lost an earlier bid for a U.S. Air Force tanker contract and instead built its first commercial line in Mobile.
“You all rallied around us when we were bringing in the first (final assembly line),” Taylor said. “Thank you for your continued support.”
Airbus first announced plans to bring an A320 final assembly line to Mobile in 2012, a decade-old milestone that Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson referenced during Monday’s event. Stimpson recalled that the original announcement came on July 3, 2012, and noted that former Mobile Mayor and current state Rep. Sam Jones was in the audience Monday, just as he had been for the first announcement.
“Mayor Jones, I know you had to be the happiest mayor in Alabama on that day,” Stimpson said. “Well, now I’m the happiest mayor in Alabama.” Stimpson said the expansion, combined with Airbus’s existing Mobile operations, will make the city the fourth-largest producer of commercial aircraft in the world, joining the ranks of Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; and Seattle.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey also addressed the crowd, crediting the state’s workforce for Airbus’s continued investment in Mobile. “The continued growth we see here is a testament to the strength of the workforce,” Ivey said. “If you want the job done, call Alabama, plain and simple.”
The expansion comes as Airbus reported strong first-quarter results and increased demand across its commercial aircraft, helicopter and defense businesses. Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said in a statement that the company’s 2022 production guidance remained unchanged despite a more challenging global economic and geopolitical environment, citing continued strong demand for the A320 family of aircraft. Airbus delivered 142 commercial aircraft during the first quarter of the year and is on pace to reach a production rate of 65 aircraft per month by 2023. The additional Mobile assembly line is intended to help push companywide production from an estimated 50 aircraft per month by 2025 up to 75 per month.
The announcement also served as a celebration for Bishop State Community College, whose new Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center will train both prospective and current Airbus employees. Interim President Lawrence Brandyberg said the state-of-the-art facility will play a growing role in preparing skilled workers for the region’s expanding aerospace sector as Airbus ramps up hiring to staff the new assembly line.
Among those on hand Monday were members of Airbus’s newest class of Flightpath 9 apprentices, a workforce development program that trains local residents for careers at the Mobile facility. Kennedy Brown, one of the new apprentices, said the program opened a path to a career she might not otherwise have pursued. “Going to college was not an option for me,” Brown said. “Airbus made it possible to start my career.” With Airbus set to roughly double its Mobile production in the coming years, officials said programs like Flightpath 9 and the new training center at Bishop State will be essential to building the pipeline of skilled workers the expansion will require.