Airbus plans A321 Toulouse expansion in traces of axed superjumbo

Airbus is poised to open a new assembly line for the A321neo in Toulouse, France, easing a grip on production of the hot-selling jetliner enjoyed by workers in Germany and accelerating an industrial rethink caused by the demise of the much larger A380. A formal decision on how to meet record demand for the medium-haul A321 has not been taken and operations in China and the United States are also being considered as part of an A321 study that Airbus says it will complete this year. But industry sources say Toulouse is all but certain to get the ninth A320-family assembly line because of shorter lead times and the availability of cavernous halls built for the A380 superjumbo, which Airbus is shutting down due to weak demand. “Toulouse is clear front-runner,” a person familiar with the plans said, while another said Airbus had been close to announcing the move at the end of the July, when it instead said only that it was considering how to shape future A321 output. “We see a need to adapt our assembly capacity to reflect our richer A321 mix within the A320 family from 2022 onwards,” COO Michael Schoellhorn said. The 180-240-seat A321 is the longest version of Airbus’s medium-haul A320 family which competes with Boeing’s 737 in the busiest part of the jet market.<br/>