Chris Jasper/TOULOUSE
Airbus Industrie is to expand the production rate of its A320 family to 30 aircraft a month, with its Hamburg and Toulouse narrowbody lines sharing manufacture with 15 aircraft each. The move will entail a major ramp-up at both sites, limiting options for the reallocation of final assembly work - a move which had been expected to follow a decision on the assembly location for the A3XX ultra-large aircraft.
Toulouse will continue to assemble the A320 and Hamburg the larger A321. The latter will also take on the new A318 shrink from next year, while production of the A319, now the province of Hamburg, will be varied between the two facilities to equalise rates.
Single-aisle aircraft production now stands at 22 aircraft a month, with full authorisation for 26 and a "protected" rate of 28 already agreed internally. Aerospatiale Matra Airbus senior vice-president single-aisle programme, Alain Fontaine, says the authorised rate will now skip this figure and be raised to 30 when the Airbus executive board meets later this month.
Fontaine adds that the higher rate, to be achieved by late 2002 and equating to 360 aircraft a year, will be enough to meet demand for the current A320 range, plus launch of the A318, and is likely to represent an effective ceiling. It should also allow Airbus to compete with Boeing in terms of delivery lead-times, where it is stretched.
Hamburg produces 12 aircraft a month and will have capacity for 15 by mid-year, although it will not take this up immediately due to problems in ramping up supply of subassemblies from other sites. Toulouse rates stand at 9.5 a month and will rise to 15 by the second half of 2002, with the site beginning A319 assembly in July of that year.
Airbus sources say the Toulouse ramp-up makes it unlikely that narrowbody production will be consolidated at Hamburg, a move that had been rumoured should A3XX assembly go to the French site. Assembly of A330/A340s in Toulouse runs at six a month and will go to seven from January 2002.
Source: Flight International
