Airbus completed an important milestone on Friday by delivering the first assembled A321neo at its Tianjin, China facility. Until then, the plant produced only the A320 model.
The aircraft belongs to China’s Juneyao Air carrier and is powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF engines. The A321neo is configured with 207 seats, eight in executive and 199 in economy.
“Since we announced the commissioning of the first A321 aircraft at FAL Tianjin last November, the relevant final assembly activities and tests went on smoothly, showing the maturity of FAL Tianjin to quickly adapt to new products,” said George Xu, Airbus Executive Vice President and Airbus China CEO.
Airbus is putting into operation four simultaneous assembly lines of the A320neo family in order to cope with the high demand for the single-aisle aircraft.
The A321neo is currently the most ordered model at Airbus, for this reason, the new Chinese assembly line will contribute to the flow of production. In addition to Tianjin, the largest variant of the A320 is produced in Hamburg, Germany, Mobile, USA, and soon in Toulouse, France, where it will occupy the space left by the A380.
Airbus opened the so-called Final Assembly Line Asia (FAL Tianjin) in 2008, which delivered its first that same year. Since then, more than 600 jets have been completed during the 14 years of operation.
