Airbus has delivered the first ever A321neo aircraft built in Toulouse, marking the first fruits of its new production line there.
The line was opened earlier this year in what had been the production halls for the giant A380 aircraft which were built at Toulouse until its production was suspended. The huge space is known as the “Jean-Luc Lagardère” building, named after the French business pioneer.
Now, with the A321neo and its variants, like the neoLR and neoXLR, proving incredibly popular, the manufacturer has chosen to add this new line to keep pace with demand and delivery targets.
Traditionally Airbus built its A321s, and the modern A321neo, at Hamburg Finkenwerder in Germany (alongside the A319), with Toulouse focusing on the A320, A330 and A350 ranges.
In recent years Airbus has also started producing small numbers of A321neos at production centres in Mobile, AL and Tianjin, China, where orders for local carriers in the United States and China respectively are often built.
But with the extra space vacated by the A380 and such a strong order book, it made sense for an additional line to be opened.
The First Aircraft
In a ceremony on 27 December, Airbus rolled out the first A321neo produced in Toulouse ahead of delivery to customer Pegasus Airlines.
The aircraft is TC-RDK (msn 11281) and has already begun flying on the carrier’s extensive low-cost network out of its Istanbul base.
The delivery of the aircraft to Pegasus Airlines marks the start of the ramp-up of the new Toulouse Final Assembly Line, which together with the other A320 Family FALs in Hamburg (Germany), Mobile (USA) and Tianjin (China), will contribute to Airbus’ objective of producing 75 A320 Family aircraft per month in 2026.
