Airbus to create aircraft assembly line in Alabama

Airbus has announced plans to create an A320 family jetliner final assembly line in Mobile, Ala. The U.S. is the world's largest market for such single-aisle jetliners, the company reports, and is expected to retain that ranking for the next 20 years.

"Airbus indeed has European roots, but we have long since grown into a truly global company with key sites in other parts of the world," said President and CEO Fabrice Brégier. "U.S. suppliers helped get the very first Airbus aircraft off the ground, and today we spend almost half of our global procurement budget here — meaning that we invest more than $12 billion a year in the U.S. economy." According to Brégier, Airbus is the largest export customer for the U.S. aerospace industry.

The final assembly line is targeted to start operations in 2015, with deliveries beginning the following year. The facility, expected to represent an investment of about $600 million, will produce 40 to 50 aircraft annually by 2018 and create 1,000 jobs in the region.