By Max Kingsley-Jones in London
Airbus has increased the workforce on the A380 assembly line by 50% to 3,800 people as it battles to overcome production delays.
Technicians are working flat out through France's traditional August break on the already assembled A380s in Toulouse to rectify wiring problems that caused the delay and undertake out-of-sequence work.
The manufacturer says that at this early stage of the production of a new aircraft, there would normally be around 1,000 extra staff working on the assembly line "but to rectify the problems, we've got another 1,200 people on top of this seconded to the final assembly line".
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| Over 1,000 extra staff are working in Toulouse to fix A380 wiring issues |
According to the manufacturer, around 3,800 people are now employed on the A380 line, compared with around 1,600 expected when production has stabilised by around aircraft number 50. Most of the extra workers are seconded from other factories within the company that are responsible for subassembly production. "A number are from the German plants, who would normally be involved in installing the wiring harnesses into the fuselage sections," says Airbus.
Structural assembly of additional A380s at the Toulouse plant has been suspended in recent months in order that the completed aircraft can undergo rewiring and modification work. But Airbus is now undertaking assembly of the sixteenth A380 (including the two ground-test airframes) as it begins to reactivate series production. This will enable the transfer of components from the subassembly plants to Toulouse to restart and aircraft output to be ramped up.
■ The A380 successfully completed a high-energy rejected take-off test at the Istres airfield on 30 July.
Source: Flight International
