Airbus Expansion Goes Beyond New Line

MOBILE, Ala. — Now that the town hall sessions for Airbus Alabama’s expansion in Mobile are complete, details have emerged that show work will go beyond the construction of a third final assembly line, AL.com reports. A seven-piece “packaging strategy” that details how the new work will fit into the existing campus at the Brookley Aeroplex is composed of a substantial contract for each item: a new 200,000-ft2 “finishing hangar” that can hold four A320-family jets; relocation of a utility corridor; doubled capacity of the current paint shop, which can handle two jetliners at a time; a new power house that will route utilities more effectively; an A220 hangar that can hold four jets as part of the manufacturing flow line; an expansion of the delivery center that stores aircraft for final checks and delivery; and a general package of site and infrastructure work, much of which is focused on employee safety. The global increase in A320 production is driving the project, with a goal to have the utility work done in spring 2023 and the first half of the A320 hangar operational at the beginning of 2024. Other work is to come online between May and September 2024.