Airbus announced the resumption of work to modernize the A320 family facilities in Toulouse. Revelead in January last year, the project plans to create a third assembly line for the A320neo and A321neo models at the site where the latest A380s are produced today.
However, the pandemic caused Airbus to pause work in April, which plans to start operations in late 2022. The resumption was driven by the more optimistic outlook of the planemaker, who believes the market will return to pre-Covid levels between 2023 and 2025 .
Digitally-enabled, the new A320 family assembly line will replace another older line in Toulouse and will include production of the A321neo for the first time. Currently, only Hamburg and Mobile (USA) assemble the largest of the single-aisle series jets.
Airbus’ goal is to increase production flexibility, especially from 2023, when the A321XLR will arrive on the market, the longest-range variant in the category and will be assembled in Germany, with support from Toulouse.
