Airbus is a European manufacturer headquartered in the Netherlands, but with its main manufacturing location in Toulouse, France. Final assembly takes place in Toulouse for all widebodies. Narrowbody final assembly also takes place in Germany, China, Canada, and the US. This is very different from Boeing, which assembles all aircraft in the US. Looking at component construction, though, there are many more locations in a truly global supply chain.
Distributed manufacturing for aircraft components
Final assembly and production of the finished aircraft is only the last step in the manufacturing process. Before that, parts are manufactured in many locations and brought together. Like all manufacturers, Airbus has complex supply chinas for each aircraft.
The majority of this takes place in Europe, but there are major components manufactured further afield as well. The wings for all aircraft apart from the A220 (and the Chinese-built A320s) are manufactured at Airbus’ Broughton facilities in Wales in the UK.
Each aircraft has its own specific supply china. For the A320, for example, the center fuselage is made in Hamburg, Germany, and the horizontal stabilizer is from Getafe, Spain. The rudder is made in Harbin, China. Components in China are also supplied by Chinese manufacturers.
The A321XLR is entirely constructed in Europe, with the forward fuselage and center wing box in France, central and rear fuselage sections, and vertical tail place, in Germany. Getafe in Spain handles the tail cone and horizontal tailplane, and the wings remain produced in the UK.
The story is similar for the A350, with the following locations:
- Broughton, UK for the wings
- Puerto Real and Getafe in Spain for fuselage and tailplane sections
- Saint-Nazaire, France for the nose fuselage
- Nantes, France for parts of the fuselage and keel beam
- Hamburg, Germany for the rear fuselage
- Bremen, Hamburg for final wing components (after construction in Broughton)
Transportation with the Beluga aircraft
Bringing all the components together is a challenge in itself. While smaller components can be shipped like standard cargo, larger components are more of a challenge.
This is where Airbus’ fleet of oversized Beluga transport aircraft comes in. The original Beluga was introduced in 1995, based on the A300-600 airframe. A larger transporter was required to transport both wings of the A350, and the Beluga XL was launched in 2020 based on the A330-200.
Boeing, of course, does the same with its Dreamlifter aircraft. The Beluga XL beats it for volume but not payload (and the huge Antonov An-225 beats them both).
Today, the aircraft brings parts from across Europe and the UK to final assembly lines. The A380 also used a road and barge network to get its parts to Toulouse. Trucks carried the individual sections of the fuselage on the last section for final assembly on specially modified roads.
Airbus final assembly lines
Airbus currently operates final assembly lines in five locations in France, Germany, US, Canada, and China. While the two European assembly lines provide planes globally, the facilities in Tianjin and Mobile cater to local markets.
These final assembly lines produce the following aircraft:
- Toulouse, France: A320, A330, A350 (and previously A380)
- Hamburg, Germany: A320
- Mobile, Alabama, US: A220 and A320
- Tianjin, China: A320
- Mirabel, Canda: A220
Simple Flying recently took a look inside the A350 final assembly line – take a look at our report and photos.
Looking forward, there are unlikely to be any immediate changes to the final assembly lines. The A380 line in Toulouse has been converted over to A320 production. Of course, opening a new line is a highly capital-intensive undertaking, and in the current climate, this seems unlikely. More may shift to China over time, though. The market there is large, and there are signs that production facilities are keen to take on more.
There is plenty more to say about Airbus’ manufacturing locations and processes. Feel free to discuss any more details in the comments.
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