The Airbus (
www.airbus.com) US manufacturing facility in Mobile, Alabama, reached a key milestone recently, when it received the 50th ‘ship-set’ of major component assemblies (MCAs) for A320 Family aircraft, just two years after taking delivery of the first.
These components will eventually become the 50th Airbus aircraft produced in the USA.
Daryl Taylor, vice-president and general manager of the manufacturing facility, said: “The arrival of the 50th ship-set is right on time to a schedule that was created more than two years ago.
"The production team here in Mobile, and our Airbus colleagues around the world, have continued to work together to ensure that we keep our promises to our customers.”
A ship-set includes front and aft fuselage sections, a vertical and a horizontal tailplane, and the wings.
The MCAs, which are manufactured in various facilities around Europe using parts and systems from around the world (including the USA), are brought together and shipped from Hamburg (Germany) to the Port of Mobile and transported by road to the facility.
Since production began in 2015, Airbus has delivered 37 aircraft from Mobile to four customers: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Jetblue and Spirit.
The facility is now producing four aircraft a month. In addition to Mobile, Airbus delivers A320 Family aircraft from Hamburg, Toulouse (France) and Tianjin (China).
Meanwhile, Airbus recently completed its first installation of a titanium 3-D printed bracket on an in-series production A350 XWB.
The bracket, built using additive-layer manufacturing technologies, is part of the aircraft pylon — the junction section between the wings and engines.
3-D printed parts are already flying on some Airbus A320neo and A350 XWB test aircraft; they include metal printed cabin brackets and bleed pipes.